Is Amazon violating antitrust law?

Amazon started in 1994 selling music and videos online. But as the age of the internet progressed they had a innovative business model. They began to expand their website by broadening the type of products they sold. They began to sell many items that could be found in retail stores. Then in 2002 Amazon started Amazon Web Services which would monitor traffic and would analyze trends of products. This paired with an expanding variety of products set them up for success.  They could see which products were selling and could analyze a way to make the most profit. As they dominated the market they made more profit and at the same time lowered their costs. They were selling a lot of products so they were able to cut their shipping and handling cots. They also made the prices so competitive that people started to buy items online as opposed to buying something in store. Sometimes the prices were even cheaper than the brick and mortar stores.

Amazon is on the path to becoming one of the largest companies in the world. They almost are worth 1 trillion dollars and are only growing. Last quarter they reported 52.9 billion dollars in quarterly revenue and 2 billion in quarterly profits. As they become more dominant it begs the question, are they violating any laws?

This is where the debate begins. Many politicians argue that Amazon is violating antitrust law. For example, Donald Trump clarified that Amazon has a "huge antitrust problem". But is Amazon breaking any antitrust laws? They actually can't be considered a monopoly because they do not control enough of the market. They only control 5% of all retail sales in the United States and 1% of global sales. And by definition, a company can be considered a monopoly when they control more than 50% of the market share. This means that they can be considered a monopoly. But they are projected to hold 10% of the US retail market by 2020.

Although they may not be a monopoly they may still be at risk under antitrust law. This is because lawmakers can adjust antitrust regulations to the new market. Many argue that the antitrust laws are outdated. The current antitrust law worked when companies controlled a large majority of the market, for example, Standard Oil controlled 90% of the US market during its height. But now in the age of technology, there may be different ways that companies are hurting competition. Many think that the laws need to be re evaluated.

Overall, Amazon is not currently violating any antitrust laws, but they may be at risk of a violation if lawmakers decide to change antitrust laws.

Ladd, Brittain. “Is Amazon A Monopoly? Donald Trump Thinks So.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 30 July 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/brittainladd/2018/07/29/amazon-is-not-a-monopoly-president-trump-yet/#62633a7a4735.

Piven, Ben. “Is Amazon a True Monopoly or Does the Bezos Behemoth Not Qualify?” News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 15 July 2019, www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/amazon-true-monopoly-bezos-behemoth-qualify-190712212903436.html.