5 Legal battles facing Amazon you need to know for your interview

Amazon interview research
Written By Stelity

As you prepare for any interview you should understand a little about the environment that the organisation operates in. A key Amazon interview topic that you should learn about is the big-tech antitrust issue, and how Washington is getting serious about regulating tech. Recent headlines highlight the issues Amazon face…

… and Big Tech faces generally

The debate on tech and antitrust is not new

Tech and antirust have been clashing for years. Cries of anticompetitive behavior have been coming from employees, customers, B2B partners, startups and competitors. But the debate this time around seems to be picking up steam, partly exacerbated by the pandemic emphasizing how much we depend on big tech for all areas of life.

Whatever the cause, Congress is serious. The last hearing held by the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law was September. It featured Tim Cook (Apple), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Sundar Pichai (Google), and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook). It was mainly an opportunity for members of congress to air their issues and the tech leaders were repeatedly spoken over and cut off. But regardless, there were some things said that cannot be unsaid. While holding these events on Zoom certainly creates a new set of challenges, it’s clear congress is not letting up.

Watch Jeff Bezos give his opening testimony

Bonus points if you can identify the leadership principles he calls out

 
 

What does this mean for my interview prep?

This is a big issue and you need to have a basic level of awareness of the topic. You don’t need to be an expert, but be comfortable having a conversation on the topic and hold a basic grasp of the issues.

Try to develop deeper level of understanding for the implications for the area of the business you are applying for. The probe implicates Amazon’s flagship products and lines of business: Marketplace, Prime Video, AWS and Venture Capital.

Don’t see this as just a ‘legal’ problem. Sales, marketing, analytics, operations, strategy, and engineering have just as much at stake.

The issues are real

Many of the challenges of regulating tech stem from the ubiquitous nature of the platforms. We’ve become reliant on a handful of companies to do basic day to day tasks like managing our diaries, communications, transport and entertainment. And those companies increasingly own both the platform and the products we use, becoming more and more anti-competitive in the process.

Jeff Bezos vs. Congress: 5 issues

  1. Predatorial pricing practices

    • The illegal practice of selling below cost to force out a competitor

    • The Amazon Echo selling below cost was specifically called out

    • There have been reports from marketplace sellers of items like baby formula, saying similar practices were used to squeeze them out

  2. Conflict of interest with Marketplace sellers

    • Reports of Amazon using proprietary marketplace seller information to launch competing products

    • Creating niche categories with only one seller to go around the rule of not analyzing sellers individually

    • There’s also the issues of stolen and counterfeit goods being sold via Amazon marketplace

  3. Stealing or replicating startup technology

    • Accessing confidential start up data via the investment process and using that data to launch competing products

    • Buying competitors to raise their prices and drive traffic to Amazon

  4. Using confidential AWS client information to build competing products

  5. Gateway leverage with content providers such as HBO

Try to come up to speed on the parts of the issue most relevant for your target role so you’re aware of the issues.

Is this the beginning of the end?

The inadequacy of current antitrust laws in governing big tech and internet based businesses is clear. Cases like this illustrate that challenge. Amazon has created a whole new kind of real estate, and it’s also competing with other players on that same real estate while accessing proprietary data of those competitors. The implications to customers and business ecosystem are undeniable.

Further viewing

Further Reading

 

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