Washington Independent Review of Books

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Dana Mattioli — The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power - with Brody Mullins — at Union Market

Location 1324 4th St NE Washington, DC 20002
Date Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Duration   1 hours
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In 2017, Lina Khan published a paper that accused Amazon of being a monopoly, having grown so large, and embedded in so many industries, it was akin to a modern-day Standard Oil. Unlike Rockefeller's empire, however, Bezos's company had grown voraciously without much scrutiny. In fact, for over twenty years, Amazon had emerged as a Wall Street darling and its "customer obsession" approach made it indelibly attractive to consumers across the globe. However, the company was not benevolent; it operated in ways that ensured it stayed on top. Lina Khan's paper would light a fire in Washington, and in a matter of years, she would become the head of the FTC. In 2023, the FTC filed a monopoly lawsuit against Amazon in what may become one of the largest antitrust cases in the 21st century. With unparalleled access, and having interviewed hundreds of people - from Amazon executives to competitors to small businesses who rely on its marketplace to survive - Mattioli exposes how Amazon was driven by a competitive edge to dominate every industry it entered, bulldozed all who stood in its way, reshaped the retail landscape, transformed how Wall Street evaluates companies, and altered the very nature of the global economy. It has come to control most of online retail and uses its own sellers' data to compete with them through Amazon's own private label brands. Millions of companies and governmental agencies use AWS, paying hefty fees for the service. And, the company has purposefully avoided collecting taxes for years, exploited partners, and even copied competitors--leveraging its power to extract whatever it can, at any cost. It has continued to gain market share in disparate areas, from media to logistics and beyond. Most companies dominate one or two industries; Amazon now leads in several. And all of this was by design. The Everything War is the definitive, inside story of how it grew into one of the most powerful and feared companies in the world - and why this lawsuit opens a window into the most consequential business story of our times. Dana Mattioli has been a reporter for The Wall Street Journal since 2006 and has written extensively on Amazon, receiving numerous awards and accolades for her investigative work. She will be in conversation with Brody Mullins, an investigative reporter at The Wall Street Journal who has also won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on financial conflicts of interest. This event is free and open to the public, providing a unique opportunity to hear from two acclaimed journalists on one of the most important business stories of our era.

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