Amazon under investigation

 

This is HUGE: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an investigation into Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM studios.1 The MGM merger would add a catalog of more than 4,000 films and 17,000 episodes to Amazon’s Prime Video service and give it control of future production, increasing its monopoly over content, and allow it to control intellectual property rights that will stretch over other businesses.2 This comes along with news that Amazon is planning to open department stores across the nation to take over brick and mortar space. We need FTC Chair Lina Khan, an antitrust advocate, to block this merger as a critical first step to reining the mega company in. We’ve written a letter to Khan with more than 30 other organizations to ask the FTC to do just that, and now we need to publicize how terrible Amazon is to get grassroots energy on our side. If Amazon is permitted to own MGM, consumers will be more forcefully pushed into subscribing to Amazon Prime to access content that should be available across all platforms, and Amazon can use its Fire TV products to keep other streaming devices out. Two hundred million people worldwide are already members of Amazon Prime, the subscription that controls content, delivery of goods, and groceries.3 It’s just one part of the all-encompassing empire that Jeff Bezos, chairman of Amazon, has built. Millions of houses use the Ring security system, seventy-seven million people read the Washington Post, and one million websites—from Airbnb to NASA to Zillow—use Amazon Web Services.4,5,6 Amazon is even planning on opening department stores across the country.7 This kind of consolidation allows Amazon to dominate the market and abuse employees. A report by the House of Representatives found that the company was using AI technology to crush competitors.8 Amazon warehouses are pushing down wages in areas with union presence.9 And customers are paying more for lower quality products.10 Demand Progress has been a leader in the fight against Amazon. We’ve driven in tens of thousands of messages to Congress and federal regulators urging them to take on the company, and we co-founded the Athena coalition to unite the grassroots against Amazon’s power. We need the FTC to step up and start applying antitrust law to break up Amazon and stop its acquisitions of huge companies. Will you donate? Yes, I’ll chip in to help stop Amazon’s monopoly. Thanks for standing with us. Robert Cruickshank, Demand Progress Sources: 1. The Verge, "The FTC has reportedly opened an investigation into Amazon’s MGM acquisition," July 9, 2021 2. The Washington Post, "Amazon merger with MGM bolsters its Prime ambitions," May 27, 2021 3. Ibid. 4. Recode, "Amazon Ring sales nearly tripled in December despite hacks," January 21, 2020 5. The Washington Post, "Audience & Traffic," accessed June 2, 2021 6. Contino, "Who's Using Amazon Web Services? [2020 Update]," January 28, 2020 7. The Wall Street Journal, "Amazon Plans to Open Large Retail Locations Akin to Department Stores," August 19, 2021 8. The New York Times, "The House Antitrust Report on Big Tech," October 6, 2020 9. Fast Company, "What Happens When An Amazon Warehouse Opens? Lower Wages, No Increase In Jobs," February 5, 2018 10. The New York Times, "Welcome to the Era of Fake Products," February 11, 2020 PAID FOR BY DEMAND PROGRESS (DemandProgress.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Join our online community on Facebook or Twitter.