Here's what to expect from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' congressional testimony

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will finally come face to face with lawmakers looking to question his company’s growing influence at Wednesday’s antitrust hearing.

The hearing before the House Antitrust Subcommittee, which will be held over videoconference because of the coronavirus pandemic, will give lawmakers a rare opportunity to grill the Amazon CEO directly about Amazon’s market power and business practices, along with other hot-button issues, like its treatment of warehouse workers during the pandemic.

The CEOs of Apple, Google and Facebook, who will also appear on Wednesday, have previously attempted to make overtures with politicians who have questioned their companies’ power or policies, whether by appearing on the Hill or, in the case of Apple CEO Tim Cook, finding common ground with President Trump.

But Amazon has mostly put forth other top executives in past antitrust hearings with lawmakers, allowing Bezos to stay largely out of the fray. Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of retail operations, Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon’s consumer business, and Jay Carney, Amazon’s top spokesperson and a former press secretary for President Barack Obama, have traded barbs with the company’s critics in press interviews and on Twitter.

Meanwhile, President Trump, angry over critical reporting from the Bezos-owned Washington Post, has repeatedly criticized the company, accusing it of everything from evading local taxes to taking unfair advantage of the U.S. Postal Service. The conflict reached a new peak in January, when Amazon filed a formal complaint over the Department of Defense’s decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to rival Microsoft. Amazon Web Services chief Andy Jassy told CNBC’s Jon Fortt at the time, “When you have a sitting president who’s willing to be very vocal that they dislike a company and the CEO of that company, it makes it difficult for government agencies, including the DoD to make objective decisions without fear of reprisal.”

Wednesday’s hearing will mark Bezos’ first appearance before Congress. But he has been steadily increasing his presence in the nation’s capital for years.

After buying the Post in 2013, Bezos purchased a $23 million mansion in D.C.’s Kalorama neighborhood. Within a few years, Amazon selected the National Landing neighborhood of Washington suburb, Arlington, Virginia, as the location for its second headquarters, HQ2. Amazon remains one of the top lobbiers among tech companies and it has grown its public policy team in recent years.


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[Bpepper]

Jeff Bezo's should just set an echo dot on the table tap the microphone in front of him and say " Alexa Play Drake - Started from the bottom" and stare at the panel.

[RegularDude]

Childhood adoption? Is this supossed to be a sob story?

[TS-]

Microsoft owns 96% of fortune 500 operating systems, why is gates not being investigated? w02020060606

[MrKenng]

Let's hope the entire U.S. will boycott Trump in the November election and choose Biden. Trump is a liar and he has done harm more than good, we just don't need him.