Amazon value plunged $3.9B in seconds after Karoline Leavitt's 'hostile' attack

Amazon stocks fell by 2% Tuesday after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed the retail giant for a "hostile and political act" over President Donald Trump's tariffs, according to Forbes.

Two percent of Amazon's $1.97 trillion USD market capitalization comes out to a loss of $3.9 billion.

The White House was responding to a Punchbowl News report "citing an unnamed source with knowledge of the plan...to show how much of a good’s cost on the site comes from tariffs," Forbes reported.

Trump called Amazon owner Jeff Bezos directly to harp on the report, according to two White House officials who talked with CNN, adding the president was “pi----”

Soon after that call, "an Amazon spokesman released a statement clarifying the move wasn't considered for the main Amazon site but was considered for Amazon Haul." A revised statement asserted, "This was never approved and not going to happen.'"

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Bezos endured a well-publicized feud with Trump during the president's first term over unflattering reporting in The Washington Post, which Bezos owns. As Trump prepared to take office for his second term, Bezos and other tech giant billionaires like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and SpaceX's Elon Musk got onboard with the Trump administration. All three attended Trump's inauguration, and Bezos donated $1 million.

Public reaction to transparent tariff pricing was positive at first, with comments like, "Every outlet should do this," from Philadelphia-based journalist Victoria Brownworth on X before news circulated that Amazon was backtracking. Bezos was then trashed on social media, with the likes of MSNBC's Elise Jordan quipping, "For about thirty seconds it seemed like Amazon cared more about customers than the White House but nope."

Forbes reported, "Amazon will report earnings for 2025’s first quarter Thursday afternoon. The company brought in $638 billion in revenue last year, trailing only Walmart as the highest company by sales in the world."

Read the Forbes article here.