The Federal Trade Commission, an independent government agency, is scrutinizing Amazon’s practices and considering the opening of proceedings. The latter could see the US government attacking the company, for abuse of dominant position.
The FTC would particularly target the Amazon marketplace, a platform made available to third-party sellers so that they can present all kinds of items by taking advantage of the firm’s logistics. But the agency would denounce certain rules imposed on these third parties, in particular that which obliges them to sell at the lowest price on the marketplace, and not with the competition, or the incentive to use advertising at Amazon.
« Finished playing »
Led by Lina Khan, whose analysis of Amazon and GAFAM in general is not to their advantage, the FTC met one last time with Amazon representatives. A last chance meeting for the firm, which had to draw its best arguments. Indeed, the government agency could claim in court a dismantling of the multinational into several entities.
While Khan isn’t exactly thrilled with Amazon’s record profits, the American book world doesn’t hold Jeff Bezos close to their hearts, especially booksellers.
The president of the American Booksellers Association, Allison Hill, drew her pen to speak directly to Lina Khan:We believe that the only way to end Amazon’s monopoly is to break up the company. And we strongly emphasize that it is the responsibility of the FTC to conduct a serious investigation before making its decision.. »
Amazon became the monopolistic/monopsonistic giant it is today partly because of its ability to game the system. We think Amazon will use this latest meeting to turn the system to its advantage.
Finished playing. Amazon must be broken.
– Allison Hill, President of the American Booksellers Association (ABA)
Moreover, the organization suggests to Khan not to limit his action to the only marketplace or to simple fines, which “won’t change the behavior of a wealthy society billions of dollars and the power to dominate all the markets it enters ».
monopoly on the sale of books
The effort of the Association of American Booksellers is coupled with another letter, addressed to Lina Khan, as well as to the Assistant Attorney General of the United States, in charge of competition at the Department of Justice… recipients, booksellers, but also the Authors Guild, which represents the authorsand the Open Markets Institute, an organization specializing in the defense of antitrust laws plead, in ten pages, for the dismantling of Amazon.
This second letter, dated August 16, is more particularly interested in the place that Amazon occupies in the world of books – remember that Jeff Bezos, originally, had opened his site to sell books there…
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By slashing book prices to the point of losing money, Amazon has secured a place in consumers’ hearts. Then, “[a]fter gaining enough power, Amazon used it to grab an ever-larger slice of the pie“, unfolds the mail, evoking the case of the publisher McFarland & Co., who was asked a 45% discount on the wholesale price of his works by Amazon. The firm had acquired such a significant weight in its sales that the house was forced to accept…
Today, Amazon has multiplied its investments in various fields, but remains an unavoidable heavyweight in the book market across the Atlantic. American booksellers and authors thus recall the figures: the firm sells more than 50% of the books sold in the United States, 90% of the printed works sold on the web, and more than 80% of digital books. This giant would finally market nearly 92% of self-published books in the country of George Washington.
Note the notable absence of publishers, who did not express themselves on the subject… Amazon, even giant and embarrassing, remains a partner despite everything.
The organisations’ joint letter is available below.
Photographie : illustration, Adrienne Hoffman, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
2023-08-20 06:21:30
#United #States #authors #booksellers #Amazons #skin
