Founder and CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey (Jeff) Preston BezosHillicon Valley: Google Extends Remote Work Policy Until July 2021 | Intel community returns Russia’s final report to Senate committee after declassification | Study Reveals Election Officials Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks House of Representatives Hearing with High-Profile Executives Rescheduled for Wednesday Hillicon Valley: Senior Intelligence Official Warns Russia, Iran and China Aiming for Election | Trump says he “often” regrets his tweets | John Lewis Postponed Technology CEO Hearing for Services MORE He will point to what he calls a “surprisingly large” global retail market and the hundreds of thousands of jobs the e-commerce giant has created over the decades in its opening remarks to Congress on Wednesday.
Bezos is set to testify before lawmakers in Washington for the first time as part of a courtroom subcommittee hearing that focuses on the power and size of Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple. The hearing, which will take place virtually due to the coronavirus outbreak, comes as the committee nears the conclusion of a year-long investigation into the companies’ behavior and whether they have acted in an anti-competitive manner.
In expansive opening remarks posted on the Amazon website Tuesday night, Bezos will focus on his personal background, as well as the company’s evolution from an online bookstore to a giant in both e-commerce and services. Cloud.
“I think Amazon should be examined,” said Bezos. “We should look at all the big institutions, whether they’re companies, government agencies, or nonprofits. Our responsibility is to make sure we pass that scrutiny with great success.”
But Bezos will also emphasize Amazon’s position in a $ 25 trillion global retail market that he describes as “extraordinarily competitive.” In his opening statement, he notes data showing that 80 retailers in the United States earn more than $ 1 billion in revenue each year, noting that Walmart is “more than twice the size of Amazon.”
He will also argue that Amazon’s scale has led to his role as the largest job creator in the United States for the past decade. Additionally, Bezos plans to address Amazon’s success as a marketplace for third-party sellers, estimating that “third-party businesses that sell in Amazon stores have created more than 2.2 million new jobs worldwide.”
Bezos is likely to face a series of questions about Amazon’s dual role as an online marketplace and seller of goods, as well as allegations that it has used third-party sales data to make competing products. A report by The Wall Street Journal earlier this year on the alleged practice prompted Rep. David Cicilline
David Nicola CicillineHillicon Valley: Google Extended Remote Work Policy Until July 2021 | Intel community returns Russia’s final report to Senate committee after declassification | Study Reveals Election Officials Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks House of Representatives Hearing with High-Profile Executives Rescheduled for Wednesday Democrats Expect Showdown to Resonate with Key Block: Women MORE (DR.I.), the panel’s chairman, to suggest that an Amazon official may have lied to Congress while testifying in 2019.
“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 Cicilline. “In the worst case, the witness Amazon sent to speak for her may have lied to Congress.”
Amazon has said it prohibits employees from using vendor-specific non-public data when determining which new products to launch.
Amazon’s scrutiny has increased exponentially in recent years as the company continued to grow in size. In February, the company was estimated to have around 44 percent of the U.S. e-commerce market share.
Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are under investigation by Congress and the Department of Justice. Wednesday’s hearing will mark the first time that a contingent of CEOs from big tech companies will appear for an audience in Congress at the same time.
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