The massive online retailer’s Japanese offices were reportedly raided based on “suspicion of pressuring retailers to offer products at lower prices than on rival sites,” according to Reuters.
The news was first reported on Monday (Aug. 8) by the Nikkei business daily, which quoted “unidentified sources with knowledge of the case,” although there was no date listed for when the raid supposedly took place.
A Japan Fair Trade Commission spokesman said he could not confirm the report but told Reuters, “I won’t say the contents are incorrect.”
Amazon Japan declined to comment for the Reuters piece through a spokesperson.
According to Reuters, Amazon Japan had $8.3 billion in sales last year, which is about 7.7 percent of Amazon’s total worldwide sales. Amazon’s main rival in Japan, Rakuten Inc., had $2.9 million in sales last year, according to Reuters.
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This is not the first time Amazon has run afoul of foreign governments either.
The German Federal Cartel Office began investigating both Amazon and Apple in November of last year after complaints that publishers were being forced to accept “unreasonable conditions” for the sale and marketing of audiobooks.
The European Union also has an antitrust investigation ongoing against Amazon’s eBook business, “examining whether clauses in contracts prevented publishers from offering more favorable deals to Amazon’s competitors.”
Amazon has repeatedly said that its agreements with publishers are legal and in the best interest of customers.
Although, if the reports of the raid are to be believed, Japan certainly does not think so.
