Amazon has long cultivated the idea that it runs its shopping platform at razor-thin margins, relying instead on AWS for its profits. In fact, Amazon’s e-commerce marketplace is enormously profitable. In The Atlantic, Stacy Mitchell writes about how Amazon has kept these profits secret – and why the SEC must enforce corporate financial disclosure rules.… Read More
Watch the newly released English-language version of a powerful documentary about Amazon’s outsized power, both in the U.S. and abroad. The film, which first aired on German public television, features Stacy Mitchell explaining to viewers how Amazon operates its monopoly machine.… Read More
This video from More Perfect Union tells the story of why Amazon has become a chaotic jumble of junk ads and questionable products, how that’s connected to the company’s abuse of independent businesses, and why Amazon now faces a major antitrust case. If you’re looking for help explaining the FTC’s lawsuit to your friends, look no further. … Read More
This lawsuit is a testament to the power of a grassroots coalition determined to check Amazon’s dominance — and a test of whether the federal government has the power, and the political will, to rein in corporate monopoly power, writes Ron Knox in The Nation.… Read More
Third-party sellers and small business leaders joined the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s virtual press briefing to applaud the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, hailing the action as a critical step to ending Amazon’s abuses and opening the online market to competition.… Read More
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed suit against Amazon for monopolizing e-commerce in violation of U.S. antitrust laws. This explainer looks at why the lawsuit was filed and what it seeks to accomplish. … Read More
The steep and rapidly growing fees Amazon extracts from the businesses that have little choice but to rely on its site to reach customers are a striking measure of its monopoly power. These exorbitant fees are crushing many sellers, raising consumer prices, and funding Amazon’s expanding empire.… Read More
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, ILSR warned that control over cloud computing, the backbone of the modern economy, is dangerously concentrated. Amazon Web Services (AWS), which controls more than 40 percent of global cloud infrastructure, has exploited its position to lock-in customers, shut out rivals, and reap unfair advantages in its other non-cloud business lines. ILSR urges the FTC to use its authorities to open the market to needed competition.… Read More
