Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple face US Congress Hearing on Competition in the Digital Space.

In his opening statement to a U.S. House antitrust subcommittee at the end of July, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that Amazon is “a bit player in the larger world of commerce”. He pointed out that “Every day, Amazon competes against large, established players like Target, Costco, Kroger, and, of course, Walmart — a company more than twice Amazon’s size, and while we have always focused on producing a great customer experience for retail sales done primarily online, sales initiated online are now an even larger growth area for other stores. Amazon accounts for less than 1% of the $25 trillion global retail market and less than 4% of retail in the U.S. Unlike industries that are winner-take-all, there’s room in retail for many winners.” Amazon is is valued at $1.4 trillion. Bezos continued: – “We didn’t have to invite third-party sellers into the store. We could have kept this valuable real estate for ourselves. But we committed to the idea that over the long term it would increase selection for customers, and that more satisfied customers would be great for both third-party sellers and for Amazon. And that’s what happened.” He concluded  “Let me close by saying that I believe Amazon should be scrutinized. We should scrutinize all large institutions, whether they’re companies, government agencies, or non-profits. Our responsibility is to make sure we pass such scrutiny with flying colors.” Congress will continue to hear evidence before preparing its report. The whole of Mr Bezos’s statement is here – https://blog.aboutamazon.com/policy/statement-by-jeff-bezos-to-the-u-s-house-committee-on-the-judiciary