Amazon reportedly facing new probes in California, Washington

Amazon's antitrust headaches don't appear to be going away.

State officials in California and Washington are reportedly looking into Amazon's handling of third-party sellers on a platform where the company also sells its own, competing products. Amazon faced similar scrutiny in 2019 from the European Union.

The news of a California investigation was first reported Friday in The Wall Street Journal. A subsequent New York Times report corroborated the earlier one, and also noted that Washington was in the mix as well. Both papers cite unnamed sources familiar with the inquiries.

Amazon has long been dogged by suspicions that the company uses its position as gatekeeper of the world's most popular online marketplace to gain an unfair competitive advantage over other sellers on the platform. Over the years, the company has added more and more private label brands to its collection. Read more...