Andy Jassythe successor to Jeff Bezos at the head ofAmazon, made its first two major buyouts in the heat of the summer. Within weeks, 1Life Healthcare, which operates One Medical clinics and iRobot, which offers robot vacuum cleaners, have fallen into the hands of the e-commerce giant. Operations at, respectively, 3.9 billion and 1.7 billion dollars. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) naturally showed interest.
Several suspicions weigh on the two operations
The US antitrust authority has officially launched reviews of the two Amazon takeovers. 1Life Healthcare reported this in an official filing on September 2, Politico revealed it the same day regarding iRobot.
For the iRobot case, the FTC wants to make sure that the operation will not increase the shares of the e-commerce giant too much in the market for connected devices. Amazon already offers Alexasecurity cameras Ring and the Astro home robotwith various features, but with disappointing success.
The agency also wants to know if the data generated by the Roomba vacuum can be used to give Amazon a competitive advantage. This is the main fear of the detractors of the takeover: that the information collected is used to offer, for example, furniture adapted to the configuration of the consumer’s rooms.
Data is also a sensitive point in the One Medical case. The e-commerce giant will have access to the group’s most personal patient information. The company has already assured that all measures will be taken to ensure that they will be perfectly secure.
The other point that caught the FTC’s attention is the recent closure of Amazon Care, launched in 2019. The agency does not see favorably that the company has preferred to buy out its competitor, rather than try to overtake it honestly.
The procedures initiated should lead to in-depth examinations and should take time. According to the sources of Politico, the FTC’s investigation into the iRobot takeover is expected to be long and difficult. the Wall Street Journal abounds, in the case of One Medical. The daily echoed the study estimating the duration of a major antitrust investigation at 11 months.
Between Amazon and the FTC, there is a liability…
Amazon is unlikely to get any leniency from the FTC. The agency and the e-commerce giant are already engaged in a legal tussle. An investigation into Amazon’s Prime program is already underway.
For its part, the company blamed the FTC to harass its leaders, Andy Jassy and Jeff Bezos. She also tried to dismiss the agency’s president, Lina Khan, matters relating to it. The latter is known for its very critical positions towards the practices of large American digital companies and Amazon in particular. The war continues and the battles follow one another.