Tech Companies Pull Out of CES 2022

Amazon (AMZN), Meta (FB), T-Mobile (TMUS), Twitter (TWTR) and Pinterest (PINS) confirmed that they no longer plan to attend CES in Las Vegas January 5-8, citing health concerns over the recent spike in Covid-19 cases.

"The health and safety of our employees is our top priority. Due to the quickly shifting situation and uncertainty around the Omicron variant, we will no longer have an on-site presence at CES," Amazon spokesperson Sarah Sobolewski said in a statement.

"Out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees, we won't be attending CES in-person due to the evolving public health concerns related to COVID-19," Kamran Mumtaz, a spokesperson for Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, said in a statement. "We will participate virtually as much as possible and continue to collaborate with the CTA around CES, which remains an important event for Meta, our clients and industry partners," Mumtaz added, referring to the Consumer Technology Association, which hosts the annual event.

Even before companies started pulling out, CES was expected to be smaller-than-usual this year. Still there are no plans to eliminate in-person attendance altogether. Instead, CTA plans to implement safety measures including vaccine, mask, and testing requirements. There will also be virtual conferencing for companies and attendees who can't attend.

"CES will still take place Jan 5-8 in Las Vegas with strong safety measures in place," the conference's media team said. "Thousands of entrepreneurs, businesses, media and buyers are planning to come to Las Vegas. Top leaders from federal and state and foreign governments are attending. And, we have received several thousand new registrants since late last week."

The upcoming event is set to be the first time CES welcomes back in-person attendees to its annual show since 2020, which took place just weeks before the Covid-19 outbreak became a full-blown pandemic.

In addition to challenges for the industry, the lack of participants may be bad news for the city of Las Vegas. In a normal year, the economic benefits of the show amount to around $291 million.

Telecom giant T-Mobile, a CES sponsor, released a statement last week announcing that it would withdraw from attending the show in person and that its CEO Mike Sievert would no longer give a keynote speech, either in person or virtually. "T-Mobile's entire team looks forward to an in-person CES 2023, which we hope includes an on-stage keynote in front of a live audience" the company said.

Source: CNN

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