![[eMarketer] Italy fines Amazon, Apple $338 million for anticompetitive sales of Beats headphones](Article Images/Key Logos/Amazon.jpg)
[eMarketer] Italy fines Amazon, Apple $338 million for anticompetitive sales of Beats headphones
The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has charged online retailer Amazon and Apple $228 million as a result of its antitrust investigation involving the reselling of Beats products, per Engadget.
The AGCM’s antitrust case began in 2020 when they searched both company’s offices. The regulators claim the two companies signed an agreement in 2018 limiting resellers of Apple-owned Beats products on Amazon’s Italian website.
The agreement allegedly contained contractual clauses that limited sales of Beats items to Amazon and selected sellers “chosen individually and in a discriminatory manner.”
The AGCM said those clauses and agreements violated Article 101 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union. Further, the regulator revealed that the agreement between Apple and Amazon restricted cross-border sales—limiting buyer choice and depriving them of discounts offered by third-party sellers.
70% of consumer electronics purchases in Italy are from Amazon.
eMarketer says that Amazon has had various run-ins with regulators for favoring its own products over those from third parties in its own stores, a key complaint against monolithic technology platforms. The AGCM’s findings point to the possibility of gaming the shopping platform to benefit specific products and sellers.
Read the full eMarketer article here
