The Amazon Antitrust Issues

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The Amazon Antitrust Issues

Amazon (AMZN) And Antitrust Issues

On August 28, Amazon officially kicked off the Whole Foods takeover by reducing the prices of kale, avocados, and several other items at their grocery chain called 'Whole Paycheck.' In fact, the price reduction was as high as 43%, which is something no one would argue against!

Ever since the 1980s, the US antitrust laws have been working to ensure consumer welfare and to prevent any company from having monopoly power. And if we look at today's business environment in the USA, it becomes apparent that the companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon have become too big & are snuffing out the competition.

With the recent buyout of Whole Foods by Amazon, many are wondering whether this move will force the US antitrust to take action against the big companies are not.

Big Companies & Anti-competition Policies

Even if we put Amazon's case aside, we can see similar events happening in other economic sectors as well. The truth is that many companies have become so big that they now have a monopoly over their respective business sector. For example, we all know that Google's search engine is the #1, and this gives Google a lot of power over other search engines.

Then there is the fact that Google also controls the Android OS as well as the Chrome browser. All of these things mean that small players in the browser or even search engine category would have a hard time competing against Google.

And if we look at Amazon, it is also dominating online sales (e-commerce) and thus can influence other smaller companies in this category as well. With Amazon's takeover of Whole Food, the company is now in a position to also disturb the business of other retail giants.

Amazon has the money to reduce rates of items so much that people switch to their stores. But this can drive out smaller businesses that can't afford to give such deep discounts!

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