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Amazon: FTC probe hunts for Bezos, chief executive; The subpoena is too broad

WASHINGTON –

Amazon has complained to federal regulators that it is hunting the company’s founder Jeff Bezos and senior executives, making “unsatisfactory demands” during their investigation into the matter. Amazon Prime, a popular shopping and streaming service with free shipping and an estimated 200 million members around the globe.

The Federal Trade Commission investigated Amazon Prime’s subscription and cancellation practices starting in March 2021 with the issuance of civil subpoenas, the retail and tech giants revealed in a statement. petition sent to the agency earlier this month.

The petition asks the FTC to rescind or extend the response deadline, the subpoena was sent last June to Bezos, former Amazon CEO and current CEO Andy Jassy. It said the FTC “has determined there is no good reason to need their testimony when they could have obtained similar information, and more, from other witnesses and documents.”

The investigation has expanded to include at least five other subscription programs, according to Amazon: Audible, Amazon Music, Kindle Unlimited, Subscribe & Save, and an unknown third-party program not offered by Amazon. Regulators are asking the company to determine the number of consumers who signed up for the programs without their consent, among other customer information. In June, agency employees sought to serve subpoenas against nearly 20 current and former Amazon employees at their homes, with dates for their testimony in the coming weeks, the statement said. petition said.

In the lawsuit, Amazon said it worked “diligiously and cooperatively” with FTC employees for more than a year to provide information related to the investigation, providing about 37,000 pages of documents. It called the information requested in the subpoena “too broad and burdensome.”

Amazon blamed the standoff on “unexplained pressure placed on employees to complete the investigation hastily, by an arbitrarily chosen deadline.”

A spokesperson for the FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

With an estimated 150 million US subscribers, Amazon Prime is the main source of revenue and rich customer data for the Seattle-based company. Costs $139 a year. The service added a coveted feature this year by acquiring exclusive video rights to the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football.”

Last year, Amazon unsuccessfully requested that FTC Chairman Lina Khan drop separate antitrust investigations into its business, alleging her previous public criticisms of her health. The company’s market strength prevented her from being carefree.

Amazon’s latest petition against the FTC was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

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