Luxembourg, 1st May 2014 – Amazon has today announced the UK launch of the Amazon Career Choice Programme, an innovative new education programme which will pre-pay 95% of tuition and associated fees for nationally recognised courses.

Many fulfilment centre employees will choose to build their careers at Amazon. For others, a job at Amazon might be a step towards a career in another field. Amazon wants to make it easier for employees to make that choice and pursue their aspirations. The programme is unique because it provides financial assistance to enable Amazon employees to complete vocational and technical certificates and qualifications.

"For some of our fulfilment centre employees, Amazon will be a career, for others it might be a stepping stone to a different job which may require additional training. If learning new skills can make the difference, we want to help," said Roy Perticucci, Vice President for EU Operations at Amazon EU Sarl. "It can be difficult to have the flexibility and financial resources to learn new skills or fund new qualifications. Our goal with the Career Choice Programme is to enable choice."

Unlike traditional tuition programmes, the Amazon Career Choice Programme will fund vocational qualifications required for today's most in-demand careers. Eligible fields of study include Engineering, IT, Computer Science, Health and Social Care, Construction, Transportation & Logistics, and Accounting, and Amazon will fund up to £2,000 per year over four years.

Matthew Hancock, Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise, said: ";Learning and education lies at the heart of all career development and giving employees the opportunity and strengthen their potential and learn new skills in this way will no doubt give many Amazon employees new vigour and direction.";

The courses include HNDs, NVQs and BTEC diplomas and are available to permanent and fixed-term full-time and part-time Amazon associates with one year's service. The Amazon Career Choice Programme supports courses up to a Level 5 Foundation Degree (or Scottish equivalent).

The programme launched in the US in 2012. Amazon Associate Graham Herman, who has enrolled on a course in graphic design through the Career Choice programme, said: "I am passionate about art and drawing and graphic design is a creative industry that I would love to get into – the Amazon Career Choice Programme pays 95% of my course costs, and I am studying a subject which I really enjoy."

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About Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk opened its virtual doors in October 1998 and strives to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavours to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.

Amazon.co.uk and other sellers offer millions of new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Baby, Books, Car & Motorbike, Clothing, DIY & Tools, DVD, Electronics & Photo, Grocery, Health & Beauty, Home & Garden, Jewellery, MP3, Music, Musical Instruments & DJ, Office, PC, Pet Supplies, Shoes, Software, Sports & Leisure, Toys & Games, Video Games and Watches.

Kindle is the world's bestselling e-reader family and Kindle Paperwhite is our most advanced e-reader. It features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers. Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, features improved fonts and faster page turns. The new Kindle Fire HDX features a stunning exclusive 7"; or 8.9"; HDX display, a quad-core 2.2 GHz processor, 2x more memory, and 11 hours of battery life, as well as exclusive new features of Fire OS 3.0. The all-new Kindle Fire HD includes an HD display, high-performance processor and dual speakers at a breakthrough price.

Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business.

Amazon.co.uk is a trading name for Amazon EU S.à.r.l, Amazon Services Europe S.à.r.l and Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l. All three are wholly owned subsidiaries of global online retailer Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), located in Seattle, Washington. Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com,
www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es, www.amazon.com.br, www.amazon.in, and www.amazon.com.mx. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment centre optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.