Sources: Amazon reaches a deal with the EU to end two antitrust investigations, increasing visibility of rivals’ products and adding offers for non-Prime orders (Javier Espinoza/Financial Times)

Michael McSweeney / The Block:
The Australian Securities Exchange paused its years-long blockchain project to replace its settlement and clearing system, saying it plans to write-off $175M  —  – The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is dropping a long-in-the-making blockchain-powered replacement for its CHESS settlement and clearing system.

Jason Del Rey / Vox:
How Amazon’s shopping experience, saturated with sponsored products, impacts sellers and consumers, as its ad revenue surpassed revenue from Prime in 2022  —  Inside the under-the-radar business that makes more money than Amazon Prime.  —  Type any random product into Amazon’s search bar and look closely at the results.

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Disney explores a membership program similar to Amazon Prime, bundling streaming, theme parks, and merchandise, and adding commerce features to Disney+  —  Entertainment giant looks to package streaming, parks and merchandise offerings together; aims to add commerce feature to Disney+

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Sources: the EU could file antitrust charges against Google over its ad business in 2023 as regulators grow frustrated over slow settlement talks  —  Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit Google could face antitrust charges next year over its digital advertising business, with EU regulators frustrated …

Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
Google agrees to a record $391.5M privacy settlement with a coalition of 40 state AGs over charges it misled users into thinking they disabled location tracking  —  Under the agreement, which state attorneys general said was the largest U.S. internet privacy settlement …

Spencer Soper / Bloomberg:
Numerator: during Amazon’s second Prime Day, the average US order size was $46.44, down 23% from the July Prime Day, mostly comprising household essentials  —  Amazon.com Inc. shoppers are largely skipping pricey purchases during the company’s Prime sale sequel — favoring pantry items …