Amazon
Featured
"Amazon's Grip is Crushing Us": Stories and Testimonials from Amazon Sellers
Katy Milani
June 15, 2022
Amazon portrays itself as a partner to businesses in an effort to derail Congress, business owners tell a very different story about their experience selling on Amazon’s marketplace. Here are some of their stories.READ MORE
2022 Independent Business Survey: Snapshot of Amazon Marketplace Sellers
ILSR
March 30, 2022
When we surveyed over 900 small, independent businesses across the U.S., 94 reported being third-party sellers on Amazon’s Marketplace. This is a snapshot of their responses.READ MORE
Report: Amazon's Toll Road
December 1, 2021
Amazon is exploiting its position as a gatekeeper to impose steep and growing fees on the small businesses that must rely on its site to reach the online market, our new report finds. Even as these exorbitant fees bankrupt sellers, they are generating huge profits for Amazon, a fact that the tech giant conceals in its financial reports. These profits are not only the spoils of Amazon's monopoly power. They are the essential fuel that feeds its market-domination strategies.READ MORE
Recent
Statement: Stacy Mitchell Comments on Amazon's Announcement to Buy One Medical
Reggie Rucker
July 21, 2022
Today, Amazon announced that it would buy One Medical, an acquisition would completely transform the healthcare industry giving Amazon easy access to private healthcare data. Stacy Mitchell commented on the announcement.READ MORE
In the Minnesota Reformer: Can Amazon Compete?
Luke Gannon
June 22, 2022
As Amazon dominates the shipping services market and makes record profits, small businesses, warehouse workers, and delivery drivers pay the price. Stacy Mitchell wrote in the Minnesota Reformer how Sen. Amy Klobuchar's bill will put a stop to this predatory behavior and force tech giants to compete on a level playing field.READ MORE
Germany’s National Broadcaster Features Stacy Mitchell, as Scrutiny of Amazon’s Power Grows
Luke Gannon
June 7, 2022
In May, Germany’s national public television network, ARD, broadcast a new documentary, “Is Amazon a Monopoly?” which featured an interview with Stacy Mitchell. The documentary drew a prime-time audience of more than 3 million viewers.READ MORE
How Reining in Big Tech will Save Small Businesses
Katy Milani
January 6, 2022
Senior Policy Advocate Katy Milani writes for Phoenix's Eculeus newspaper group on how local businesses create a strong community, offer quality career opportunities, and cultivate economic stability. READ MORE
On Capitol Forum: Amazon Charges Steep Fees at the Expense of Small Businesses
Luke Gannon
January 5, 2022
Stacy Mitchell joined Teddy Downey on the Capitol Forum's podcast to discuss ILSR’s new Amazon’s Toll Road report, which finds that Amazon is exploiting its position as a gatekeeper to impose steep and growing fees on third-party sellers. Stacy explains that breaking up Amazon is a key solution to saving small businesses.READ MORE
D.C. Lawsuit Aims At Amazon’s Monopoly Conduct
Ron Knox
June 1, 2021
An antitrust lawsuit filed this month by Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine is a milestone in the fight against the monopoly power of online retail juggernaut Amazon. It is the first action by a government enforcer in the U.S. aimed at ending the company’s persistent abuse of consumers and the small businesses forced to sell on its platform.READ MORE
Reports & Articles
In The New York Times: Stacy Mitchell Makes the Case to Break Up Jeff Bezos's Empire
October 8, 2020
Through its marketplace, cloud division and voice interface, Amazon functions as essential infrastructure for an astonishing array of companies and industries. This gives it an extraordinary view into the activities of other businesses and an unparalleled ability to manipulate markets to its own advantage.READ MORE
In The Atlantic: Amazon Is a Private Government. Congress Needs to Step Up.
August 11, 2020
In The Atlantic, Stacy Mitchell explains why Congress must reign in the monopoly power of these companies in order to restore balance to both our economy and our democracy.READ MORE
Report: Amazon's Monopoly Tollbooth
July 28, 2020
In this report, we find that Amazon is exploiting its gatekeeper power to impose ever-larger fees on third-party sellers.READ MORE
In The Nation: How Amazon Used the Pandemic to Amass More Monopoly Power
Ron Knox
June 26, 2020
Amazon has a long history of using its monopoly power to squeeze its workers and the small businesses that depend on its platform. Now, under the strains of Covid-19, Amazon has begun to turn its quest for dominance against its own customers.READ MORE
ILSR's Testimony on Amazon's Dominance Before the House Judiciary Committee
July 15, 2019
ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell testified on Amazon's market power before the House Judiciary Committee as part of its antitrust investigation into dominant digital platforms.READ MORE
Interview: In The Sun, Stacy Mitchell Discusses Amazon and the Future of Local Economies
October 25, 2018
This month, The Sun magazine features ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell in an extended Q&A about the consequences of Amazon’s tightening grip and what it will take to revive America’s left-behind cities and towns.READ MORE
Report: Amazon’s Next Frontier: Your City’s Purchasing
July 10, 2018
A national contract opens the way for Amazon to take over billions of dollars in local government spending. In this report, we examine the contract and find serious concerns — including that it leaves local governments at risk of being ripped off, and sets Amazon up to expand its monopoly power.READ MORE
In The Nation: Amazon Doesn’t Just Want to Dominate the Market—It Wants to Become the Market
February 15, 2018
Stacy's Mitchell's cover feature for The Nation looks at how Amazon is a radically new kind of monopoly with ambitions that dwarf those of earlier empires, and what we should do about it.READ MORE
Report: Amazon’s Monopoly
November 29, 2016
Amazon is destroying competition and market diversity, leaving us with fewer choices, less innovation, and diminished opportunities.READ MORE
Report: Amazon’s Stranglehold: How the Company's Tightening Grip on the Economy Is Stifling Competition, Eroding Jobs, and Threatening Communities
November 29, 2016
Amazon has extended its tentacles across our economy. In this report, we pull back the curtain on the company, and find that it's at the center of increasing inequality and diminishing opportunity, and that it's concentrating power in ways that endanger competition, community life, and democracy. We also examine how public policy should address Amazon's high costs.READ MORE
Featured Media Coverage
Stacy Mitchell is Profiled in the New York Times
Jess Del Fiacco
April 20, 2020
ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell was profiled in the New York Times for her analysis of Amazon's monopoly and work to build a broad coalition to advocate for policies to check its outsized power.READ MORE
Watch Frontline Documentary on Amazon's Reign Over Us — Featuring ILSR's Research & Interviews with Stacy Mitchell
Susan Holmberg
February 4, 2020
FRONTLINE has drawn on ILSR’s research and interviews with co-director Stacy Mitchell to create a powerful documentary on the reign of Amazon.READ MORE
Audio & Video
Is Amazon Picking Winners and Losers Among America's Cities? — Episode 121 of Building Local Power
Jess Del Fiacco
March 4, 2021
Host Jess Del Fiacco and ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell are joined by award-winning journalist Alec MacGillis to discuss his new book, Fulfillment. Their conversation focuses on how the shift toward online shopping — led by Amazon — has reshaped America.READ MORE
On the "Who Is?" Podcast: Stacy Mitchell Explains How Jeff Bezos has Leveraged Government Favors to Amass Alarming Power
September 3, 2020
On the "Who Is?" podcast, ILSR's Stacy Mitchell explains how Jeff Bezos built Amazon into the empire it is today by exploiting fractures in economic policy and then leveraging the company's political influence to dominate our economy.READ MORE
Canadian National Radio: Why It's Crucial to Wrest Power From Corporations like Amazon
Susan Holmberg
June 1, 2020
Stacy Mitchell talks to Canadian national radio about how to understand Amazon’s structural power and its consequences, and about the growing momentum in Congress to do something.READ MORE
On Vergecast: Stacy Mitchell Explains How Amazon's Dominance is More Visible During a Pandemic
May 1, 2020
Nilay Patel, host of the Vergecast, interviewed Co-Director Stacy Mitchell on the pandemic's disruptions to our supply chains, the importance of competition, and the growing movement to regulate Amazon.READ MORE
Australian National Radio Talks With Stacy Mitchell about America's Anti-Monopoly History and Big Tech
June 25, 2019
ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell was featured on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's radio news program Rear Vision for an episode on monopoly power in America.READ MORE
How Amazon Gets What it Wants: Stacy Mitchell on Chris Hayes' Podcast
January 23, 2019
ILSR co-director Stacy Mitchell appeared on MSNBC host Chris Hayes' podcast, "Why Is This Happening?" The two discuss how Amazon came to dominate e-commerce, its now all-encompassing presence in consumer goods, retail, and cloud computing, and its much bigger ambitions beyond.READ MORE
In Videos for Bernie Sanders, ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell Explains Amazon’s Monopoly Power
October 5, 2018
The two videos have drawn more than 1.8 million views across several platforms.READ MORE
More Articles
Fact Sheet: Why the "Ending Platform Monopolies Act" is Essential Reform
June 21, 2021
Our latest fact sheet shows that lawmakers cannot achieve their aim of restoring competition to our online markets without passing the structural separation bill. READ MORE
In ProMarket: Big Tech is Officially Too Big to Manage
Shaoul Sussman
August 5, 2020
Last week, the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee held Big Tech's feet to the fire. They grilled the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google about the power that these four companies have over the U.S. economy and our society. In light of this epic hearing, ILSR Legal Fellow writes in ProMarket that we are seeing a "monumental shift in the public debate surrounding Big Tech."READ MORE
In Wired: Can it. Amazon is Not Your Typical Grocery Store
Susan Holmberg
May 5, 2020
ILSR Legal Fellow Shaoul Sussman and co-author Hal Singer discredit the idea that all businesses behave like Amazon.READ MORE
In ProMarket: Amazon is Poised to Emerge from the Covid-19 Crisis Stronger Than Ever
Shaoul Sussman
April 1, 2020
Amazon has reacted to the coronavirus outbreak with restrictions designed to cement its market power at the expense of merchants and consumers.READ MORE
In American Prospect: Amazon Uses Lending to Control Small Business
Shaoul Sussman
February 26, 2020
In the American Prospect, ILSR Legal Fellow Shaoul Sussman explains that it is almost impossible for small businesses selling on Amazon’s platform to borrow from private banks, forcing entrepreneurs to borrow from Amazon itself.READ MORE
ILSR Exposes Amazon's Rigged Shopping Algorithm in ProMarket Piece
November 8, 2019
In a new piece for the University of Chicago Stigler Center's blog, ProMarket, ILSR's co-director Stacy Mitchell, and legal fellow Shaoul Sussman, describe how Amazon rigs its shopping algorithm to produce results that favor its own interests, harming shoppers and the many businesses that rely on its platform to get to market.READ MORE
Factsheets & Infographics
Fact Sheet: How Amazon Exploits and Undermines Small Businesses, and Why Breaking It Up Would Revive American Entrepreneurship
June 16, 2021
In splashy campaigns and lobbying at the Capitol, Amazon claims that it has “a mutually beneficial relationship” with the small businesses that depend on its platform. This fact sheet tells the real story, and explains what Congress needs to do.READ MORE
The People vs. Amazon: Our Summary of Congress's Findings
Ron Knox
December 14, 2020
We summarized Congress's Big Tech monopoly report, particularly its findings on Amazon's monopoly power and its recommendations for how Congress can liberate the economy from Amazon’s stranglehold.READ MORE
Local Governments Are Increasingly Buying from Amazon. Here’s Why They Need to Stop.
Olivia LaVecchia
April 4, 2017
Local governments are increasingly turning to Amazon for their buying needs. When they do, though, citizens lose. Here's why you should be concerned about this spreading trend — and 5 things you can do.READ MORE
When It Comes to Working People, Amazon Isn't Innovative at All
Olivia LaVecchia
February 7, 2017
When shoppers interact with Amazon, they see an innovator. But behind the scenes, Amazon relies on a labor model that looks a lot more like the past than the future. This fact sheet that breaks down how this powerful corporation is undermining working people — and what we need to do.READ MORE
5 Things Local Officials Need to Know Before Welcoming an Amazon Warehouse
October 22, 2015
Amazon fulfillment centers impose so many hidden costs on local economies that cities ought to reconsider welcoming them at all, much less greasing the way with public funds.READ MORE