Founder and CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos announced that he was going to step down and transition to the role of executive chair July 1, 2021. Andy Jassy, a deputy, is set to take over his position. This comes amid a massive crackdown by lawmakers in Washington on monopoly behavior practiced by social media companies, with Amazon being under the main spotlight.
NBC described this as a “major turning point in one of the most successful entrepreneurial runs in American history.”
However, many are unsure of the exact effect this will have on Amazon. Chief Financial Officer of Amazon Brian Olsavsky assured that, “[Bezos] is not leaving. He’s going to be executive chairman, super important role, super active in the Amazon success story.”
Bezos might still play a role in Amazon, but his stepping down signifies a new era for tech companies. A New York Times article showed a different side of the story, where Bezos steps down after increasing pressure from Congress, especially congresswoman Lucy McBath and her role in the House antitrust subcommittee hearing held in July.
The hearing was widely regarded as “a watershed moment for America’s tech giants.” Lawmakers from both political parties joined together on the consensus that the four biggest tech companies rely on business models that depend on exploiting and gatekeeping their powerful hold on the internet. They are also accused of scheming to bring down anyone that challenges them.
While most tech companies wanted to monopolize the specific area they were in, Bezos’s Amazon wanted to become a ubiquitous force on the internet. The company is not just an online retailer but also has a cloud computing service, podcasts, satellite-delivered broadband, microchip development and even military contracting.
The company also came under scrutiny due to the horrible conditions Amazon workers lived in while making a minimum wage, as they worked for the richest man in the world and for a company valued at over USD 1.5 trillion.
The Guardian wrote, “Amazon happened to capture control over a whole set of emerging technologies it did not create at a time where anti-monopoly laws had been weakened to allow such control. Fundamentally, Amazon is a political institution designed to consolidate wealth and power.”
If Bezos and Amazon diminish competition and monopolize dozens of services, then thousands of workers all over the world will suffer the same fate. Lawmakers need to ensure that companies like Amazon do not monopolize the tech market.
New chairman of the Senate’s antitrust committee Amy Klobuchar plans on doing more. She has already introduced a bill to increase the Justice Department’s and Federal Trade Commission’s budgets for antitrust enforcement and clamp down on anti-competitive mergers.
Experts agree that old laws pertaining to tech conglomerates require changing, especially in an age with smart algorithms and declining online privacy. Setting strict regulations on Amazon and other tech companies will reinforce market competition which will lead to tech innovation.
Amazon and other tech companies should be stopped from finding loopholes to avoid taxation and their workers should be allowed to join unions in an effort to uphold labor protections too.
In Alabama, Amazon faces its biggest challenge by workers. Thousands of Amazon warehouse workers are set to begin voting on whether they want to join a union, starting next month.
We are only at the beginning, but we cannot excuse anti-market methods practiced by conglomerates just because they boost the economy. If we do not hold them accountable, tech innovation will stagnate. And the economy will follow soon after.
