Amazon could face FTC lawsuit looking to break up the e-commerce giant
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) could face a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission as early as next week, according to a report. Multiple sources told Politico that the regulator is "finalizing" its highly-anticipated antitrust lawsuit against the e-commerce giant.
A wide-ranging lawsuit challenging Amazon (AMZN) on a number of fronts is expected to be filed as early as August. The complaint is anticipated focus on challenging practices of the Amazon Prime business and policies the FTC believes force merchants to use Amazonâs logistics and advertising services.
If the FTC is successful with its lawsuit, one of the remedies could be that Amazon (AMZN) is ordered by a court to restructure and break off pieces. A breakup of the AWS business has been a frequent area of speculation for analysts looking at ways Amazon (AMZN) could create more value for shareholders. However, the FTC and Chairman Lina Khan have had a mixed record in going after large corporations in several merger cases. Amazon (AMZN) also faces the threat of separate actions from state attorneys general.
Shares of Amazon (AMZN) fell 1.55% in premarket trading on Wednesday, with Microsoft's (MSFT) earnings report in the spotlight. Amazon (AMZN) will step into the earnings confessional on August 3 for its Q2 earnings report and full-year guidance update. 19 of the last 26 EPS revisions from analysts on Amazon (AMZN) have been to the upward side. Options implies a swing of 8% after Amazon reports. The e-commerce stock fell 4% after its last earnings dump.
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