Amazon founder Jeff Bezos arrives for his assembly with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the UK diplomatic residence on September 20, 2021 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission late Wednesday rejected Amazon’s bid to exclude CEO Andy Jassy and founder Jeff Bezos from testifying in a probe into the retail big’s Prime program.
In an order written by Republican Commissioner Christine Wilson and made public on the FTC’s web site, the company dominated that Amazon hadn’t sufficiently proved that its schedule for the executives’ testimony can be unduly burdensome. Still, the company did enable for extra prep time earlier than they provide testimony.
“Amazon provides no reason why the Commission must accept anything less than all the relevant testimony it can obtain from these two witnesses,” the order stated.
Amazon lodged a criticism in an August submitting, claiming that the FTC’s calls for for data and testimony by prime executives have been overly broad and burdensome. Amazon even accused FTC workers of harassing Bezos and Jassy for his or her participation.
Amazon stated the FTC “made matters worse” when it knowledgeable the corporate in June that the company was increasing the scope of its probe to incorporate different subscription applications, together with Audible, Amazon Music, Kindle Unlimited and Subscribe & Save, based on the August submitting.
The FTC has been investigating sign-up and cancellation processes for Amazon’s Prime program since March 2021. The company is wanting into whether or not Amazon deceives customers into signing up for Prime, whereas failing to supply a easy solution to cancel and keep away from recurring fees.
The Prime subscription program, which prices $139 a 12 months and consists of perks like free transport, now has some 200 million subscribers worldwide.
Amazon stated final month it has been complying with the FTC’s requests thus far, producing some 37,000 pages of paperwork.
Amazon has navigated a difficult relationship with the FTC underneath Chair Lina Khan, who rose to prominence as a legislation pupil when she revealed “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox” within the Yale Law Journal in 2017. The firm sought Khan’s recusal from antitrust probes into its enterprise, citing her previous critiques of its energy.
Amazon gained some concessions from the FTC, like a limitation on “catch-all” calls for for data, which the fee stated it might modify. The FTC additionally laid out a protocol for scheduling future hearings and clarified that witnesses ought to be largely allowed to decide on their very own counsel, barring sure conflicts.
“We’re disappointed but unsurprised the FTC largely declined to rule against itself, but we’re pleased that the agency walked backed its broadest requests and will allow witnesses to choose their own counsel,” an Amazon spokesperson stated in an announcement. “Amazon has cooperated with the FTC throughout the investigation and already produced tens of thousands of pages of documents. We are committed to engaging constructively with FTC staff, but we remain concerned that the latest requests are overly broad and needlessly burdensome, and we will explore all our options.”
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