Connecticut AG Launches Antitrust Probe Into Amazon’s eBook Business

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is launching an antitrust probe into how Amazon runs its eBook business, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Thursday (Jan. 14).

Connecticut’s inquiry is just the latest antitrust probe by several state and federal authorities into how Amazon conducts its business. Tong said his office is looking into possible anticompetitive conduct regarding the eCommerce giant’s agreements with five of the country’s biggest book publishers, according to a 2019 subpoena obtained by the Tech Transparency Project and shared with the WSJ.

A spokeswoman for Tong’s office told the Journal that Amazon is cooperating with the subpoena.

“Our office continues to aggressively monitor this market to protect fair competition for consumers, authors, and other eBook retailers,” Mr. Tong said in a statement, per WSJ.

Aside from Amazon, also included in the subpoena are News Corp’s HarperCollins; Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Book Group; Bertelsmann SE’s Penguin Random House; ViacomCBS’s Simon & Schuster; and Macmillan.

Penguin Random House has a pending deal on the table to acquire Simon & Schuster.

This is Connecticut’s second look into Amazon’s eBook unit. The U.S. Justice Department in 2012 filed a civil antitrust lawsuit that accused Apple of colluding with publishers to fix prices.

Amazon had a 76 percent market share of all eBooks sold in the U.S. in September, according to Codex Group data, per the WSJ.

In August, New York Attorney General Letitia James partnered with the Federal Trade Commission and California's attorney general to launch a probe into Amazon’s market power.

Google is also being investigated by attorneys general from several states, including California, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah. The tech giant is also being probed by China.