The European Union’s antitrust chief is planning to open a formal investigation into Amazon in coming days, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, July 16, citing sources familiar with the case.
The investigation itself does not come as a surprise, as EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager had already launched a preliminary probe into Amazon in September last year and was expected to announce whether a full probe would take place. The preliminary investigation focused on how Amazon uses data on its third-party merchants that sell through Amazon.
Vestager explained the key questions she had about Amazon’s business model in a September interview with CNBC.
“They host a lot of little guys, and at the same time, they’re a big guy in the same market,” Vestager said. “So how do they treat the data that they get from the little guy? Does that give them an advantage that cannot be matched?”
Full Content: Bloomberg
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