Senator Warren Wants The FTC To Conduct A “Thorough And Thorough” Review Of The Amazon MGM Deal.

Amazon on Wednesday asked FTC President Lina Hahn to step down from all matters related to the company. Elizabeth Warren assigned a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Hahn late Tuesday urging regulators to attend a “comprehensive and thorough” review of Amazon’s proposed acquisition of MGM Studios. Meanwhile, Amazon on Wednesday urged Khan to step down from all things company-related.

The FTC’s job is to review the $8.45 billion deal, decide whether to approve it, challenge it in court, or find another solution.

“Amazon is a large, high-performing buyer with extensive business operations. An investigation into the impact of this transaction should include its direct effect on streaming services and the prices charged to consumers, as well as its broader impact on small businesses, workers, and the economy at large,” Warren wrote in the letter.

This $8.45 billion deal was designed to help Amazon attract customers to its streaming subscription service. Still, because the service is tied to a variety of additional Amazon products and services that impact large sectors of our economy, these transactions require careful antitrust scrutiny. In addition, Warren explicitly cites concerns about a possible takeover of the video streaming market.

Amazon said it bought MGM because of its extensive library of intellectual property rights, including the James Bond franchise, Rocky/Creed Franchise, and The Silence of the Lambs. In addition, original shows and films will likely be available. Exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

“A typical antitrust analysis of a vertical transaction would assess whether the acquisition could provide Amazon with incentives and opportunities to harm competitors at streaming service Prime Video or competitors at production company MGM,” Warren wrote.

“While the FTC needs to investigate the possible anti-competitive effects of this framework, I urge the FTC to also look at how Amazon and its expansion activities may now affect competition in this market without the acquisition of MGM and how the MGM acquisition could deteriorate is worrying. this. “

“For example, Netflix is ​​an Amazon customer who uses Amazon Web Services (AWS), the dominant cloud infrastructure provider,” Warren added. As a result, Amazon already has many sensitive information from Netflix and the thousands of other companies that use AWS. Whenever Amazon enters a new market, it can use this data to its advantage by blocking competition. “