FTC Antitrust Suit Against Amazon Set for Later This Month After Meeting Fails to Resolve Impasse
E-commerce giant’s lawyers offered no concessions in talks with agency officials last month
By Dana Mattioli
Wall Street Journal
Sept. 5, 2023 5:25 pm ET
The Federal Trade Commission has been examining Amazon practices, including whether it favors its own products over competitors’ on its platforms and how it treats outside sellers on Amazon.com. / PHOTO: PATRICK SEMANSKY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Amazon.com officials haven’t offered concessions to the Federal Trade Commission in pursuit of a settlement over antitrust claims, paving the way for the regulator to file a lawsuit later this month, according to people familiar with the matter.
Top members of Amazon’s legal team had a video call with FTC officials on Aug. 15. The so-called last-rites meeting, which is often a final step before a court battle, was a chance for the technology giant to make its case to the regulator to head off a possible lawsuit that officials have been working on for many months.
During such meetings, companies have the opportunity to offer to pre-emptively change their business practices in order to avoid a lawsuit. But, Amazon’s lawyers didn’t offer specific concessions, the people said.
The FTC plans to file its lawsuit against Amazon late this month, one of the people said. The commission in recent years has been examining Amazon practices, including whether it favors its own products over competitors’ on its platforms and how it treats outside sellers on Amazon.com.
The lawsuit will target a number of Amazon’s business practices, such as its Fulfillment by Amazon logistics program and pricing on Amazon.com by third-party sellers, some of the people said. The lawsuit will suggest that Amazon makes “structural remedies” that could lead to a break up of the company.
At the meeting last month, Amazon’s lawyers reiterated the argument to each of the commissioners, including chair Lina Khan, that changes to Amazon could result in higher prices and slower shipping speeds to customers, some of the people said.
The FTC didn’t outline for Amazon what sorts of remedies it would find acceptable, information that Amazon officials had pressed the agency to provide. Given the FTC’s yearslong investigation of Amazon, it is unclear whether concessions would have stopped the agency from filing a lawsuit.
The lawsuit will be a seminal moment for Khan, who rose to fame after the 2017 publication of a Yale Law Journal article that made the case that Amazon wielded too much power
Write to Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com
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