California Accuses Amazon of Price Fixing in Legal Filing
The New York Times • • business
Key Points:
- A newly unsealed filing in a California antitrust lawsuit alleges that Amazon engaged in price fixing by pressuring major brands like Levi’s and Hanes to ask competing retailers to raise prices on certain products.
- The 2022 lawsuit claims Amazon punished sellers on its marketplace for offering lower prices on other websites, thereby harming competition and increasing consumer prices online.
- The filing reveals Amazon asked brands to intervene when competitors offered lower prices or when Amazon was losing money on an item, leading rival sites to raise their prices as a result.
- California Attorney General Rob Bonta highlighted the explicit nature of the price-fixing evidence, marking a rare insight into Amazon’s internal pricing strategies.
- Amazon faces additional scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission and 17 states, which allege the company illegally maintains a monopoly and inflates prices by squeezing merchants and prioritizing its own products, with related lawsuits expected to go to trial next year.
