Amazon To Make Big Business Changes in EU Settlement

Amazon will make major changes to its business practices to end competition probes in Europe by giving customers more visible choices when buying products and, for Prime members, more delivery options, European Union regulators said Tuesday. From a report: The EU's executive Commission said it accepted the legally binding commitments from Amazon to resolve two antitrust investigations. The deal allows the company to avoid a legal battle with the E.U.'s top antitrust watchdog that could have ended with potentially huge fines, worth up to 10% of annual worldwide revenue.

The agreement marks another advance by EU authorities as they clamp down on the power of Big Tech companies, and comes just a day after the Commission accused Facebook parent Meta of distorting competition in the classified ads business. 'Today's decision sets the rules that Amazon will need to play by in the future instead of Amazon determining these rules for all players on its platform,' the EU's competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said at a press briefing in Brussels. 'With these new rules, competing independent retailers, carriers and European customers will have more opportunities and choice.' The agreement only applies to Amazon's business practices in Europe and will last for seven years. Amazon will have to make the promised changes by June.

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