It seems as though Amazon’s push to add MGM’s film and TV studio to its business will go through investigation from federal regulators. The Federal Trade Commission launched an examination concerning the merger Friday, as indicated by a report from The Information. The investigation would search for any illegal competitive advantage the consolidation could provide for Amazon.
The revealed investigation comes as Amazon faces expanding regulatory scrutiny, including investigations concerning expected anticompetitive practices for different areas of its business. The FTC is attempted a different examination concerning Amazon, which the Information detailed will focus on whether the organization illegally favors its own items over those of different businesses on its e-commerce platform, as well as regardless of whether it pressures organizations that list products on the organization’s marketplace to buy Amazon’s advertising and logistics services.
MGM declined to comment. The FTC and Amazon didn’t react to requests for comment. The consolidation was reported toward the finish of May, showing Amazon ready to add beloved classics from MGM’s catalog to its streaming service (however not every one of the titles will be accessible to stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video).
Likewise on Friday, US President Joe Biden marked an executive order that, to some extent, asked the FTC to research consolidations altogether – particularly acquisitions that include “dominant internet platforms.” accordingly, FTC chair Lina Khan said in a proclamation that the organization is assessing its rules for evaluating consolidations.
“The current guidelines deserve a hard look to determine whether they are overly permissive,” Khan said.
The executive order likewise encouraged the FTC to set principles for competition on e-commerce platforms where the proprietor of the platform additionally sells its own merchandise. Government officials have additionally presented late enactment that would target organizations that run online marketplaces, keeping them from preferring their products over those from different businesses. Amazon represented about 44% of US e-commerce sales in 2020.