Amazon
Profile
Amazon is a retail behemoth whose real business is data – Big Data. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, the company relentlessly gathers data every time an individual uses its website or its voice assistant in order to be able to sell more stuff. It is infamous for its use of low paid warehouse workers and delivery drivers who are tasked with delivering a wide variety of products to online shoppers. It also owns one of the world’s largest clusters of ‘cloud’ computer networks (Amazon Web Services) that millions of individuals, businesses and government agencies use to host their data, including the Central Intelligence Agency.
online shopping, data hosting, supermarkets, Alexa voice assistant, Kindle e-book reader
Violations
| Top 5 Offense Groups (Groups Defined) | Penalty Total | Number of Records |
|---|---|---|
| competition-related offenses | $61,700,000 | 1 |
| environment-related offenses | $12,829,487 | 17 |
| employment-related offenses | $12,768,075 | 10 |
| consumer-protection-related offenses | $3,711,466 | 9 |
| safety-related offenses | $3,115,613 | 68 |
(April 7, 2021)
Stories
Prime Power: How Amazon Squeezes the Businesses Behind Its Store (Published 2019)
Amazon Everywhere
Prime Power: How Amazon Squeezes the Businesses Behind Its Store
Prime Leverage: How Amazon Wields Power in the Technology World (Published 2019)
Amazon Everywhere
Prime Leverage: How Amazon Wields Power in the Technology World
Revealed: how Project Goldcrest helped Amazon avoid huge sums in tax
Amazon is facing a landmark court ruling in the US that could prise open its obscure tax structure in Luxembourg, after a high-stakes legal battle that has shed unprecedented light on the technology giant’s labyrinthin
Do you want to feel really good this Christmas? Boycott Amazon
Jeff Bezos, says the TUC, earns as much in a second as one of his warehouse workers would earn in five weeks.
Amazon Air provider hit with 'no confidence' vote as holiday shipping ramps up
By ,
3 Min Read
(Reuters) - ABX Air pilots who fly for Amazon.com Inc and other clients cast a near-unanimous vote of “no confidence” against company management as the holiday shipping season, which depends on airplanes for fast delivery, takes off.
Prime Mover: How Amazon Wove Itself Into the Life of an American City (Published 2019)
Amazon Everywhere
Prime Mover: How Amazon Wove Itself Into the Life of an American City
Video
Jeff Bezos defends Amazon after NYT exposé of working practices
Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos has defended his company after allegations of employee cruelty made by the New York Times.
Revealed: AmazonSmile helps fund anti-vaccine groups
Amazon appears to be helping fund anti-vaccine not-for-profit organizations through its charity arm, the AmazonSmile Foundation, the Guardian can reveal.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
- Seasonal Associate by Heike Geissler (MIT Press, 2018)
How the brutalities of working life are transformed into exhaustion, shame, and self-doubt: a writer's account of her experience working in an Amazon fulfillment center.
Activism
EthicalConsumer calls for boycott of Amazon over company's tax avoidance
Ethical Consumer | January 29, 2021
In 2020, Amazon announced that its key UK business paid just £14.46 million in tax in 2019 - a 3% increase from the previous year, despite pre-tax profits growing by more than 35%. We have estimated that in 2017 Amazon’s tax avoidance from profit shifting alone cost the UK £52million.
More than 400 lawmakers from 34 countries back 'Make Amazon Pay' campaign
Paul Sandle | Reuters | December 3, 2020
More than 400 lawmakers from 34 countries have signed a letter to Amazon.com Inc boss Jeff Bezos backing a campaign that claims the tech giant has “dodged and dismissed … debts to workers, societies, and the planet,” organisers said.
US book stores launch 'Boxed Out' campaign against Amazon
Techxplore | October 15, 2020
The American Booksellers Association has launched an advertising campaign against Amazon to alert the public to what it calls the growing danger that book stores are under from the online goliath during the coronavirus pandemic.
Black Friday protests at Amazon warehouses in England
The BBC | 29 November 2019
A union has held protests outside Amazon warehouses to coincide with the Black Friday sales.
& Lawsuits
Amazon To Pay $61.7 Million to Settle FTC Charges It Withheld Some Customer Tips from Amazon Flex Drivers
Federal Trade Commission | February 3, 2021
Amazon will pay more than $61.7 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it failed to pay Amazon Flex drivers the full amount of tips they received from Amazon customers over a two and a half year period. The FTC’s complaint alleges that the company stopped its behavior only after becoming aware of the FTC’s investigation in 2019.
Antitrust: Commission sends Statement of Objections to Amazon for the use of non-public independent seller data and opens second investigation into its e-commerce business practices
The European Commission | November 10, 2020
The European Commission has informed Amazon of its preliminary view that it has breached EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in online retail markets. The Commission takes issue with Amazon systematically relying on non-public business data of independent sellers who sell on its marketplace ...
EU says Amazon breached antitrust rules, opens second investigation into its e-commerce business
Silvia Amaro | CNBC | November 10, 2020
The European Commission said Tuesday that Amazon breached European antitrust rules by using independent sellers’ data for its own benefit.It has also announced a second formal investigation into the company’s e-commerce processes.
Amazon is reportedly facing a new antitrust investigation into its online marketplace led by the FTC and attorneys general in New York and California
Tyler Sonnemaker | The Insider | August 3, 2020
State attorneys general from New York and California have teamed up with the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Amazon's online marketplace, Bloomberg reported Monday. The agencies plan to begin interviewing witnesses in the coming weeks, according Bloomberg.
Amazon keeps a close eye on employee activism to head off unions
Annie Palmer | CNBC | October 24, 2020
Amazon warehouse workers have a long history of agitating for change. But the coronavirus crisis has generated new momentum for employees to speak candidly about workplace conditions.
Amazon is cracking down on protesters and organizing, workers say
Michael Sainato | The Guardian | May 5, 2020
Amazon’s revenues topped $33m an hour in the first three months of the year as the coronavirus pandemic locked down large parts of the world. The sales boost has handed Amazon the biggest dilemma of its 25-year life: how to deal with a growing chorus of critics within the company. So far its reaction has only made matters worse.
Financials
Note: Most recent list is not always the most complete list.
- Amazon.com, Inc Significant Subsidiaries (via U.S. SEC)
- Amazon.com, Inc Significant Subsidiaries - older list (via U.S. SEC)
Croctail Subsidiary Tool using the CorpWatch API - This API uses automated parsers to extract the subsidiary relationship information from Exhibit 21 of companies' 10-K filings with the SEC.
Click here for the latest list.
Political Influence
OpenSecrets.org Profile of Amazon.com
& Evasion
Amazon had sales income of €44bn in Europe in 2020 but paid no corporation tax
Rupert Neate | The Guardian | May 4, 2021
Fresh questions have been raised over Amazon’s tax planning after its latest corporate filings in Luxembourg revealed that the company collected record sales income of €44bn (£38bn) in Europe last year but did not have to pay any corporation tax to the Grand Duchy.
Amazon Has Record-Breaking Profits in 2020, Avoids $2.3 Billion in Federal Income Taxes
Matthew Gardner | ITEP | February 3, 2021
Amazon’s winning streak in its battle against the U.S. tax system remains intact. This week the retail giant announced record-breaking sales and income for 2020, and an effective federal income tax rate of just 9.4 percent, less than half the statutory corporate tax of 21 percent.
New study deems Amazon worst for 'aggressive' tax avoidance
Rupert Neate | The Guardian | December 2, 2019
The big six US tech firms have been accused of “aggressively avoiding” $100bn (£75bn) of global tax over the past decade.