Christopher ZeniosReports say that attorneys and potentially one economist have been conducting interviews with small businesses that sell products via Amazon. The three merchants interviewed reported to Bloomberg that the interviews were lengthy and in-depth.
The merchants reported that they were asked specifically the amount of revenue they gain from Amazon sales compared to other e-commerce websites such as eBay, with interviews lasting up to 90 minutes.
Former Federal Trade Commission officer Michaels Kades commented:
Early in an investigation, that’s a sign of staff doing a serious job,
he added, “They’re spending lots of time with witnesses and trying to really understand what they’re saying.”
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jennifer Rie also commented on the interviews stating “the questioning had the hallmarks of the background phase of an investigation”
Amazon is certainly not the only tech company to receive scrutiny with investigations into Facebook starting in June and an investigation from 50 state attorneys looking into Google also announced. Amazon itself is already under investigation by the European Union as of July this year.
Concerning the looming investigation from the FTC both Amazon and the FTC declined to comment when asked for a comment from Business Insider and Bloomberg.
