Amazon has a Muse problem. Is a deal with OpenAI a solution?

What happened: Needham analyst Laura Martin discussed Amazon (AMZN) blocking Meta's (META) Muse shopping agent from its site and suggested Amazon instead propose a joint venture with OpenAI. Key numbers: Martin said about 85% of e-commerce is done on the Amazon website. She proposed a 50/50 joint venture structure. Why it matters: Martin said Amazon should give some consumer-facing agents access but not others to assure their success, and that Meta was first because it is the only company doing this now. Market: +1.6% today ($253.10), +11.7% YTD, 1.0x vol — as of 22:46 UTC Verified: Q3_2026 (Oct 29) revenue $203.9B vs $203.9B est; next print ~Jan 28

Needham analyst Laura Martin discussed Amazon (AMZN) blocking Meta's (META) Muse shopping agent from its site and suggested Amazon instead propose a joint venture with OpenAI.

Martin said Amazon should give some consumer-facing agents access but not others to assure their success, and that Meta was first because it is the only company doing this now. Market: +1.6% today ($253.10), +11.7% YTD, 1.0x vol — as of 22:46 UTC Verified: Q3_2026 (Oct 29) revenue $203.9B vs $203.9B est; next print ~Jan 28