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Ask HN: Is it time to break up Amazon?

With Prime Video now stuffing ads into videos unless you pay an extra $2.99 a month, I'm wondering how this is not a classic anti-trust issue. After becoming the dominant logistics / hard goods player, they long ago bundled Video with that completely unrelated shipping benefits offering, and increased the price modestly. That seemed egregious enough, but now they are essentially diminishing the value of the product to their gain or forcing people to pony up a large percentage of the membership price to avoid the diminished experience, else give up the shipping benefits atogether. Shouldn't the DOJ be stepping in to look at, among other things, the unbundling of different services? Why aren't their pure streaming competitors complaining? What am I missing?

ActorNightly 3y ago
Amazon doesnt have a monopoly in any sector. Pretty hard to make an anti trust case against it
- unclebucknasty 3y ago
  >Amazon doesnt have a monopoly in any sector. Pretty hard to make an anti trust case against it Antitrust laws aren't limited exclusively to monopolies, but here's some interesting reading: https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-sues-amazoncom-breaking-antitrust-law-harming-consumers-2023-09-26/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-sues-amazoncom-breakin...
haaz 3y ago
This is why we’ll never have an all in one wechat app in the west.
protocolture 3y ago
Primes like the least interesting part of Amazon in terms of regulation. Their content base is pretty poor outside originals. Prime needs regulation like Costco Petrol needs regulation. Video is a cool free bolt on to free shipping with its own bolt ons. Amazon is scary for retail and cloud computing. Maybe start there.
- unclebucknasty 3y ago
  >Primes like the least interesting part of Amazon in terms of regulation I suppose that's a matter of opinion. But, sure, there are certainly other interesting "parts" (e.g. how they treat merchants [0]). >Prime needs regulation like Costco Petrol needs regulation. Video is a cool free bolt on to free shipping with its own bolt ons. No. Amazon is responsible for nearly 38% of e-commerce and commands the broadest merchant network available [0]. That's an issue in itself and the bundling of non-commerce items like Video make it worse. And, I'm not sure why anyone would assume that it's free. They have increased the price of Prime membership multiple times since introducing Video and simply don't itemize its contribution to the price, but that doesn't mean we're not paying for it. That's actually part of the issue. You don't know what you're paying and you can't opt out of their bundling to reduce your price. That puts pure-streaming competitors at an unfair disadvantage, and also pressures e-commerce consumers to consider dropping other streaming services. [0] https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-sues-amazoncom-breaking-antitrust-law-harming-consumers-2023-09-26/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-sues-amazoncom-breakin...
chrispeel 3y ago
If it's a "classic anti-trust issue", can you point to a similar company from the past that was successfully constrained by anti-trust regulation?
- dotcoma 3y ago
  Microsoft ?
- runjake 3y ago
  Off the top of my head: - AT&T/Bell - Apple (hasn't happened yet, but Apple is certainly feeling the heat and making changes in an attempt to lessen antitrust) - Apple iBooks - Microsoft - Standard Oil I'm sure I can come up with more.

ActorNightly 3y ago

Amazon doesnt have a monopoly in any sector. Pretty hard to make an anti trust case against it

unclebucknasty 3y ago
>Amazon doesnt have a monopoly in any sector. Pretty hard to make an anti trust case against it Antitrust laws aren't limited exclusively to monopolies, but here's some interesting reading: https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-sues-amazoncom-breaking-antitrust-law-harming-consumers-2023-09-26/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-sues-amazoncom-breakin...

haaz 3y ago

This is why we’ll never have an all in one wechat app in the west.

protocolture 3y ago

Primes like the least interesting part of Amazon in terms of regulation. Their content base is pretty poor outside originals. Prime needs regulation like Costco Petrol needs regulation. Video is a cool free bolt on to free shipping with its own bolt ons. Amazon is scary for retail and cloud computing. Maybe start there.

unclebucknasty 3y ago
>Primes like the least interesting part of Amazon in terms of regulation I suppose that's a matter of opinion. But, sure, there are certainly other interesting "parts" (e.g. how they treat merchants [0]). >Prime needs regulation like Costco Petrol needs regulation. Video is a cool free bolt on to free shipping with its own bolt ons. No. Amazon is responsible for nearly 38% of e-commerce and commands the broadest merchant network available [0]. That's an issue in itself and the bundling of non-commerce items like Video make it worse. And, I'm not sure why anyone would assume that it's free. They have increased the price of Prime membership multiple times since introducing Video and simply don't itemize its contribution to the price, but that doesn't mean we're not paying for it. That's actually part of the issue. You don't know what you're paying and you can't opt out of their bundling to reduce your price. That puts pure-streaming competitors at an unfair disadvantage, and also pressures e-commerce consumers to consider dropping other streaming services. [0] https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-sues-amazoncom-breaking-antitrust-law-harming-consumers-2023-09-26/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-sues-amazoncom-breakin...

chrispeel 3y ago

If it's a "classic anti-trust issue", can you point to a similar company from the past that was successfully constrained by anti-trust regulation?

dotcoma 3y ago
Microsoft ?
runjake 3y ago
Off the top of my head: - AT&T/Bell - Apple (hasn't happened yet, but Apple is certainly feeling the heat and making changes in an attempt to lessen antitrust) - Apple iBooks - Microsoft - Standard Oil I'm sure I can come up with more.