Business briefs

Amazon reports customer data snafu

Amazon.com said it mistakenly shared customer data with undisclosed parties, a privacy misstep by the world’s biggest online retailer heading into its busiest time of year. The Seattle company on Wednesday emailed an undisclosed number of customers to report that their emails and names were inadvertently shared due to a technical error that has since been fixed. It also told customers that changing passwords wasn’t necessary.

Juul lobs second round of suits against e-cigarette rivals

Juul Labs Inc., the maker of an e-cigarette wildly popular with American teens, has lobbed a second round of litigation against what it says are copycats, even as it faces criticism that its products appeal to underage consumers. Juul filed its second patent-infringement complaint on Tuesday with the U.S. International Trade Commission, seeking to block sales of competing e-cigarette devices and nicotine cartridges made by 24 companies mostly in China and Uruguay. Juul filed a similar complaint with the ITC against more than a dozen companies on Oct. 3. The San Francisco-based company also filed mirror lawsuits in at least 10 district courts, accusing a range of companies of infringing patents for the vaping devices and cartridges.

Ikea to slash 7,500 jobs, focus on smaller stores

Furniture giant Ikea plans to cut 7,500 jobs worldwide as part of a

plan to cater more to online customers, the company said Wednesday. The shakeup at the Swedish firm, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, shows that even Ikea — known for its massive suburban stores and affordable assemble-yourself furniture — is not immune to the online competition that has affected other brick-and-mortar retailers. Most of the job cuts will not hit Ikea’s retail workers, but rather those in office positions including human resources and communications. Meanwhile, the firm plans to create thousands of jobs — 11,500, or 4,000 more than it is cutting — by opening 30 stores in urban centers and by investing in its e-commerce and delivery offerings.