Amazon (Seattle) is reportedly working toward finalizing a deal to purchase MGM Holdings (Beverly Hills, Calif.), according to Vox. The deal is said to total $9 billion for the Hollywood studio, which has reportedly been trying to sell itself for several years.
The unusual news coincides with Attorney General Karl A. Racine filing an antitrust suit with the District of Columbia Superior Court against Amazon on Tuesday. The AG asserts that Amazon’s business practices have unfairly raised prices for shoppers and that the company has used monopoly power through its contracts with third-party sellers to create “an artificially high price floor across the online retail marketplace,” CNBC reports.
The suit essentially claims that Amazon made third-party sellers sign an agreement that would banish them from its marketplace if they happened to offer a better deal elsewhere. That part of its business solutions agreement was quietly redacted in 2019, however the company allegedly replaced that provision with an almost identical one which it referred to as its “fair pricing policy.” Instead of banning a seller completely, it now reportedly allows Amazon to set sanctions against third-party sellers if they happen to offer their goods at a competing marketplace at a lower cost.
The suit aims to end Amazon’s restrictions against third-party sellers as well as making the retailer provide restitution for civil penalties against them and for for harming consumers.
An Amazon spokesperson responded in a statement: “The D.C. Attorney General has it exactly backwards – sellers set their own prices for the products they offer in our store. Amazon takes pride in the fact that we offer low prices across the broadest selection, and like any store we reserve the right not to highlight offers to customers that are not priced competitively. The relief the AG seeks would force Amazon to feature higher prices to customers, oddly going against core objectives of antitrust law.”