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Stacy Mitchell Profile picture
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28 Nov, 10 tweets, 3 min read
Amazon’s outsized market power is the biggest threat facing small independent businesses.

This #SmallBusinessSaturday join the fight to restore our anti-monopoly laws.

#IndiesFirst #SmallBizSat

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More from @stacyfmitchell

Stacy Mitchell Profile picture
25 Nov
Yikes. There’s a deal afoot to merge Simon & Schuster with Random House — which would create a publishing behemoth controlling one-thirds of all books sold in the U.S.

wsj.com/articles/pengu…
"The deal could draw attention from the U.S. Justice Department” — It should draw far more than attention. The government should block this merger.
One consequence would be an even bigger focus on trying to create mega best-sellers — basically pouring money & effort in to potential superstar books, at the expense of publishing new authors, important nonfiction, etc.
Read 5 tweets
Stacy Mitchell Profile picture
28 Jul
Amazon is taking a bigger & bigger cut of the revenue earned by the small businesses that depend on its site. Amazon is pocketing 30% of their sales — up from 19% just 5 years ago.

We have a new report! Here are a few findings. 1/

ilsr.org/amazons_tollbo…
First there were the referral fees – 15% off the top.

And then Amazon said: if you want to qualify for Prime and keep generating sales, you should sign up for FBA, our warehousing & shipping services. That’s another set of fees, which keep rising. 2/
Then Amazon decided to build a big advertising business. It turned over more of its search pages to sponsored ads.

It said to sellers: If you still want your products on the first page, that will be another set of fees. And, oh, those fees will rise too. 3/
Read 12 tweets
Stacy Mitchell Profile picture
23 Jul
I've resigned my fellowship at Yale's Thurman Arnold Project. The director, Fiona Scott Morton, revealed that she’s a paid adviser to Amazon & Apple. I think that makes it hard to achieve the project’s goal of creating a space to grapple w/ the antitrust implications of Big Tech.
It’s also at odds with the legacy of Thurman Arnold, the anti-monopolist hired by FDR to rebuild the Antitrust Division at DOJ. Arnold took an aggressive approach to prosecuting monopolies, which he described as “a dictatorial power subject to no public responsibility” and…
…a “toll bridge over which everyone has to pass.” That sounds a lot like Amazon to me. We can only imagine that if Arnold were at DOJ today he would be marshalling the law to check the outsized power and abuses of the tech giants.
Read 4 tweets
Stacy Mitchell Profile picture
23 Apr
It seems Amazon lied to Congress. An exec testified in July that Amazon doesn’t use data from sellers to create its own rival products.

Turns out it does. This is monopoly behavior, hence the coverup. @HouseJudiciary must call Bezos to testify. 1/

wsj.com/articles/amazo…
@HouseJudiciary Interviews with over 20 Amazon employees reveal that they routinely gathered detailed sales & cost data from product makers selling on the site. They used the data to make competing Amazon-brand products. 2/
Amazon is looking for a fall-guy.

“”We strictly prohibit our employees from using nonpublic, seller-specific data to determine which private label products to launch.”’ Amazon said ... company has launched an internal investigation.” 3/
Read 8 tweets
Stacy Mitchell Profile picture
9 Apr
The big banks need to be broken up. This crisis is still more evidence that they are totally ill-suited to meeting our financial needs.

We need more small local banks instead. Just look at the differences in how they have responded to the needs of small businesses. 1/
Bank of America, the nation’s 2nd largest, declared it wouldn’t process government relief loans for small businesses that don’t already borrow from the bank. 2/

wsj.com/articles/big-b…
Another megabank, Wells Fargo, declared it wouldn’t participate in the small business program unless the feds lifted restrictions they’d imposed as punishment after Wells ripped off all those customers a few years ago. (It got its way.)
Read 8 tweets
Stacy Mitchell Profile picture
8 Apr
So disheartening. The Democrats still do not grasp what's needed to sustain shuttered small businesses & their millions of employees.

After a disastrous rollout if the CARES program through SBA, @SenSchumer & @SpeakerPelosi should be calling for a new approach. 1/
@SenSchumer @SpeakerPelosi Small businesses need direct cash infusions from the IRS/Treasury to cover payroll & rent for a few months. This is what many EU countries are doing. Small business are facing extinction. Democrats need to lead! 2/
@SenSchumer @SpeakerPelosi Instead, @SenSchumer & @SpeakerPelosi want to put more money into the SBA program. Ok, it needs more $, but it's limitations are not simply about funding.

It’s not a system capable of delivering relief at scale to all impacted businesses. 3/
Read 7 tweets

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