Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos finally answers his first question.
Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington asked Mr. Bezos if Amazon uses individual data from outside vendors, as described in an April Wall Street Journal report. “I cannot answer that question yes or no,” Mr. Bezos said in response. The WSJ investigation showed that Amazon’s private label employees were using information on individual sellers to develop competing products.
Bezos said he was familiar with the Journal’s story and could not guarantee that Amazon’s policy had never been violated. He said the company continues to analyze it “very carefully.”
Mr. Bezos avoided early questioning by subcommittee members due to a technical problem with his virtual feed, which caused a brief recess in Tuesday’s hearing.
Amazon has a strong private label program that produces 158,000 products. Last year, a prominent Amazon attorney testified before Congress in which he said: “We do not use individual seller data directly to compete” with companies on the company’s platform.
After the Journal’s story, some questioned whether Amazon’s attorney had misled Congress. “At best, the Amazon witness appears to have misrepresented key aspects of Amazon’s business practices while omitting important details in response to specific questions,” said Rep. David Cicilline, who heads the antitrust subcommittee, following the story. “In the worst case, the witness Amazon sent to speak for him may have lied to Congress.”
