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Did you read her proposal? There would be a structural separation from distribution and first party goods. Just like railroads couldn't own interests in the com

Did you read her proposal? There would be a structural separation from distribution and first party goods. Just like railroads couldn't own interests in the commodities they were transporting, Amazon couldn't operate a market place and also own private label brands. https://medium.com/@teamwarren/heres-how-we-can-break-up-big-tech-9ad9e0da324c https://medium.com/@teamwarren/heres-how-we-can-break-up-big...

delfinom 8y ago
So what about Walmart who does double Amazon in revenue AND has their own private label brands? They have so much retail power they are known to get manufacturers by the balls and make manufacturers accept the cost they want instead.
- basch 8y ago
  or Costco? $130B in revenue and I dont hear clamor for Costco to be split from Kirkland. By this logic Apple shouldnt be allowed to have Apps in its App store, right? Or are they banned from selling first and third party phone cases in store? CVS shouldnt be allowed its own generic drugs. At what point does this become "companies arent allowed to make/sell their own products if they also resell other companies products." And lets be serious: you want to take away Google's ability to choose the ranking of results? Thats their entire company's purpose. People go to google because they like the order the results come in. If google starts delivering bad results, that opens opportunity for other companies.
  - tokyodude 8y ago
    > Warren's team said that the proposal would also apply to Apple. "They would have to structurally separate -- choosing between, for example, running the App Store or offering their own apps,
- Despegar 8y ago
  Since multiple people are asking this: it would apply to Walmart and Costco under her proposal because they both have $25B in revenues. This is just the first step in a new conversation about confronting monopoly in America. There hasn't been a bill written yet.
- bitcurious 8y ago
  Walmart isn't a platform (excluding Jet.com). They purchase goods (take on risk) prior to selling them. Amazon is a marketplace meaning the seller takes on all of the risk and pays Amazon for the privilege. Amazon then uses the data that marketplace generates to undercut the sellers with their private labels.
walterbell 8y ago
Relevant text: > ... legislation that requires large tech platforms to be designated as “Platform Utilities” and broken apart from any participant on that platform. Companies with an annual global revenue of $25 billion or more and that offer to the public an online marketplace, an exchange, or a platform for connecting third parties would be designated as “platform utilities.” These companies would be prohibited from owning both the platform utility and any participants on that platform. Platform utilities would be required to meet a standard of fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory dealing with users. Platform utilities would not be allowed to transfer or share data with third parties.
plandis 8y ago
Where is the demonstrated consumer harm that warrants monopoly treatment? Adding private labels increases the amount of selection consumers have. You’d think we would hear more about it since basically every physical retailer owns their own brands that they sell in their own marketplaces already.
- jonahb 8y ago
  As Elizabeth Warren makes clear in her post, "demonstrated consumer harm" isn't the only justification for antitrust action. We can't demonstrate the innovation that would occur in a competitive marketplace, but we break up monopolies with the faith that it will. This was the prevailing view until the late 20th century. Hopefully we'll get back to it.
tokyodude 8y ago
How would this be applied? I feel like nearly every grocery store chain in the USA has it's own brand competing with same 3rd party brands they carry. Whole Foods had "360", Walgreens has "Nice". It's been too long since I've been to a Safeway, a Lucky's, a Ralph's, etc but it became pretty clear that each one had it's own brand. And let's not forget Trader Joe's which is almost 90% all it's own brand.
- jonahb 8y ago
  From the Warren post: Companies with an annual global revenue of $25 billion or more and that offer to the public an online marketplace, an exchange, or a platform for connecting third parties would be designated as "platform utilities." … These companies would be prohibited from owning both the platform utility and any participants on that platform. Thus Safeway would be exempt from the regulation because (a) they do not offer an online marketplace and (b) they do not connect third parties (but instead act as an intermediary). Similarly, it appears that only Amazon Marketplace, not the retail arm of Amazon, would be affected by this regulation.
chillacy 8y ago
That sucks because every company that actually cares enough about its customer experience eventually vertically integrates, and it results in a better experience. For instance, Apple makes hardware, software, services and they all fit together perfectly. Tesla distributes cars in addition to making them, leading to a better buying experience. Everything Amazon does is in-line with this principle as well. Is the end game laws similar to what we have for alcoholic beverages and cars? Where distribution and manufacturing are artificially separated?

delfinom 8y ago

So what about Walmart who does double Amazon in revenue AND has their own private label brands? They have so much retail power they are known to get manufacturers by the balls and make manufacturers accept the cost they want instead.

basch 8y ago
or Costco? $130B in revenue and I dont hear clamor for Costco to be split from Kirkland. By this logic Apple shouldnt be allowed to have Apps in its App store, right? Or are they banned from selling first and third party phone cases in store? CVS shouldnt be allowed its own generic drugs. At what point does this become "companies arent allowed to make/sell their own products if they also resell other companies products." And lets be serious: you want to take away Google's ability to choose the ranking of results? Thats their entire company's purpose. People go to google because they like the order the results come in. If google starts delivering bad results, that opens opportunity for other companies.
- tokyodude 8y ago
  > Warren's team said that the proposal would also apply to Apple. "They would have to structurally separate -- choosing between, for example, running the App Store or offering their own apps,
Despegar 8y ago
Since multiple people are asking this: it would apply to Walmart and Costco under her proposal because they both have $25B in revenues. This is just the first step in a new conversation about confronting monopoly in America. There hasn't been a bill written yet.
bitcurious 8y ago
Walmart isn't a platform (excluding Jet.com). They purchase goods (take on risk) prior to selling them. Amazon is a marketplace meaning the seller takes on all of the risk and pays Amazon for the privilege. Amazon then uses the data that marketplace generates to undercut the sellers with their private labels.

walterbell 8y ago

Relevant text: > ... legislation that requires large tech platforms to be designated as “Platform Utilities” and broken apart from any participant on that platform. Companies with an annual global revenue of $25 billion or more and that offer to the public an online marketplace, an exchange, or a platform for connecting third parties would be designated as “platform utilities.” These companies would be prohibited from owning both the platform utility and any participants on that platform. Platform utilities would be required to meet a standard of fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory dealing with users. Platform utilities would not be allowed to transfer or share data with third parties.

plandis 8y ago

Where is the demonstrated consumer harm that warrants monopoly treatment? Adding private labels increases the amount of selection consumers have. You’d think we would hear more about it since basically every physical retailer owns their own brands that they sell in their own marketplaces already.

jonahb 8y ago
As Elizabeth Warren makes clear in her post, "demonstrated consumer harm" isn't the only justification for antitrust action. We can't demonstrate the innovation that would occur in a competitive marketplace, but we break up monopolies with the faith that it will. This was the prevailing view until the late 20th century. Hopefully we'll get back to it.

tokyodude 8y ago

How would this be applied? I feel like nearly every grocery store chain in the USA has it's own brand competing with same 3rd party brands they carry. Whole Foods had "360", Walgreens has "Nice". It's been too long since I've been to a Safeway, a Lucky's, a Ralph's, etc but it became pretty clear that each one had it's own brand. And let's not forget Trader Joe's which is almost 90% all it's own brand.

jonahb 8y ago
From the Warren post: Companies with an annual global revenue of $25 billion or more and that offer to the public an online marketplace, an exchange, or a platform for connecting third parties would be designated as "platform utilities." … These companies would be prohibited from owning both the platform utility and any participants on that platform. Thus Safeway would be exempt from the regulation because (a) they do not offer an online marketplace and (b) they do not connect third parties (but instead act as an intermediary). Similarly, it appears that only Amazon Marketplace, not the retail arm of Amazon, would be affected by this regulation.

chillacy 8y ago

That sucks because every company that actually cares enough about its customer experience eventually vertically integrates, and it results in a better experience. For instance, Apple makes hardware, software, services and they all fit together perfectly. Tesla distributes cars in addition to making them, leading to a better buying experience. Everything Amazon does is in-line with this principle as well. Is the end game laws similar to what we have for alcoholic beverages and cars? Where distribution and manufacturing are artificially separated?