Theft. That’s the running theme throughout Dana Mattioli’s The Everything War, an ass-reaming if ever there was one about an anti-competitive conglomerate. Her target is Amazon which she’s been covering for The Wall Street Journal since 2019. Jeff Bezos started the company more than 20 years prior built upon the problematic concept of “customer obsession.” You see, when you claim to be all about the average consumer and you just tinkle in your trousers in excitement over making it super convenient for folks to order almost any product at surprisingly low prices and have it land on their doorsteps lightning quick, you’ll bend the rules and even break the law. A lot. Steal ideas, steal data, steal an inventor’s will to persevere after getting strip-sacked by Bezos and his greedy band of MBAs. Lest you have a giddy sensation that the Federal Trade Commission or Congress (ha!) is going to break up Amazon, allow me this spoiler: John Sherman himself will rise and do an antitrust jig atop his own grave sooner than any government litigation wraps.
Here’s the formula: build a powerful retail website, commercialize your data storage solution with an enviable recurring revenue model, fund all other pursuits (including a venture capital arm) with those earnings, feign interest in investing in and/or acquiring countless start-ups, rip-off promising ideas & data to develop your own products, ghost those entrepreneurs, lean on retailers to sell at absurdly low prices, delist those who don’t use Fulfillment by Amazon services or advertise enough on the site, manipulate your algorithms, “self-preference” the Buy Box with items predatorily priced, weave stock warrants into supplier agreements while demanding Board seats, infiltrate Washington DC, duck legitimate sales taxes and bamboozle state governments into tax credits, create disposable jobs for vulnerable people whom robots will soon replace, lobby then stonewall Congress, pressure your ecosystem to fight proposed legislation, smear unionization efforts, and, as your founder slithers toward the exit, introduce empty “leadership principles that contrasted deeply with the culture as it existed: ‘Strive to Be Earth’s Best Employer’ and ‘Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility.'” Got it? The stories captured herein – from sellers, to current & former employees, to elected officials – are infuriating, shocking if not surprising. In the words of a prominent VC the author cold-called, “Amazon is the devil.” Like we said as kids, it takes one to know one.
Enter Lina Khan, Chair of the FTC since 2021. Khan, 35, has enjoyed a rocket ship of a ride to her post by challenging Robert Bork’s Reagan-era interpretation of antitrust law that has us four-plus decades later wondering, gee, what happened? She’s on a mission to unwind Bork’s legacy of nurturing monopolies by using a pretty relatable example. “Just as Rockefeller had forced competitors to partner with Standard Oil or risk obliteration,” writes Mattioli, the tech giant “could also be rapacious in its thirst for winning, making no competitor too small to be immune from its onslaught.” At issue is the ruse of low prices, as in what’s the harm if the consumer pays less? Hardly a victimless scenario, it’s Mom & Pop outfits selling on Amazon.com that are getting crushed by ever-tightening margins that result from the mother ship mercilessly squeezing them. Longshot as it may be, perhaps a break-up is in the offing, so cheers to the wrath of Khan. No member of The Chickenshit Club, she has the Commission tackling cases it could very well lose. If they do, we all do. Well, wait – not Jeff.
If you have anything to say about this – or book recommendations – kindly post below (rather than emailing me) to spark conversation. Thank you!
I use Amazon only as the ultimate last resort. If I do find something on Amazon, I will always try to buy direct from the source. I am the anti-consumer, so never fell into the Amazon snare. Dare I say – “told you so!”?
Well done, John. And well said. Go ahead, say it loud & proud!