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By definition any kind of merger or aquisition is gonna get you closer to an anti-trust investigation. That said: anti-trust is all about monopoly and abuse of

By definition any kind of merger or aquisition is gonna get you closer to an anti-trust investigation. That said: anti-trust is all about monopoly and abuse of monopoly power. Expanding into connected markets is desirable, abusing monopoly to hamper competition while doing so is illegal. Amazon is not a monopoly [https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-stock-price-not-a-monopoly-2017-8?r=US&IR=T&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-stock-price-not-a-mon...], and isn't expanding anywhere they'd become one easily. That said, again: even if there is a marginal monopoly in their sprawling Empire, and they abuse it, and an investigation is carried out, and prosecution is recommended... Amazon has more money than god. Expect a half-decade long trial with multiple appeals and unsatisfying judments that are easily covered out of their cash-on-hand. Remember the DOJ v Microsoft? I can't even see us getting halfway to that kind of action (as lame as that judgment was... MS should have been split in three).

jimnotgym 8y ago
>Amazon is not a monopoly That article just describes Amazon as not a monopoly in retail as a whole in the U.S. The issues here are that Amazon's film business includes them being studio, streamer, retailer and now maybe cinema owner. They also manufacture player hardware which you may need to access their service. I wanted to watch an Amazon series, but their app wasn't available on my streaming box (and I doubt any technical justfication for this), so I had to buy an Amazon Fire stick, but that was OK because I could use it to watch YouTube as well. Except once Amazon had me, they removed the Google devices from Amazon, and Google retaliated by removing YouTube from fire. This starts to feel a lot like anti-competive behaviour. It reminds me of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Patents_Company https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Patents_Compa... In certain sectors of retail Amazon certainly do have much higher market share than the cited article suggests, like computer equipment for instance, although I don't have figures to hand. My biggest concern is around the Amazon marketplace. By controlling the marketplace and being a seller into the marketplace Amazon can monitor an independents sales on a per-product basis. And once they see you doing well selling widget x, they can get widget x built in China and sell it directly and for less, thereby squeezing you out of the market. For lots of smaller distributers Amazon is their biggest channel. So when you say Amazon is not a Monopoly, that is an opinion and one I disagree with.

jimnotgym 8y ago

>Amazon is not a monopoly That article just describes Amazon as not a monopoly in retail as a whole in the U.S. The issues here are that Amazon's film business includes them being studio, streamer, retailer and now maybe cinema owner. They also manufacture player hardware which you may need to access their service. I wanted to watch an Amazon series, but their app wasn't available on my streaming box (and I doubt any technical justfication for this), so I had to buy an Amazon Fire stick, but that was OK because I could use it to watch YouTube as well. Except once Amazon had me, they removed the Google devices from Amazon, and Google retaliated by removing YouTube from fire. This starts to feel a lot like anti-competive behaviour. It reminds me of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Patents_Company https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Patents_Compa... In certain sectors of retail Amazon certainly do have much higher market share than the cited article suggests, like computer equipment for instance, although I don't have figures to hand. My biggest concern is around the Amazon marketplace. By controlling the marketplace and being a seller into the marketplace Amazon can monitor an independents sales on a per-product basis. And once they see you doing well selling widget x, they can get widget x built in China and sell it directly and for less, thereby squeezing you out of the market. For lots of smaller distributers Amazon is their biggest channel. So when you say Amazon is not a Monopoly, that is an opinion and one I disagree with.