California seeks injunction against Amazon's alleged price-fixing practices
Amazon accused of bullying merchants to maintain higher prices across platforms
Case centers around Amazon's control of the 'Buy Box' which accounts for most sales
Amazon maintains its practices are procompetitive and legal
Trial scheduled for January 2027
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California Attorney General Rob Bonta asked a state judge on February 24, 2026, to stop Amazon.com from inflating prices for consumers through an alleged campaign to bully merchants not to sell goods more cheaply elsewhere, in a bid to insulate the company from market competition. The state's motion, filed in the California Superior Court in San Francisco, seeks a preliminary injunction in Bonta's 3.5-year-old antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, which also aims to recoup ill-gotten profits. According to Bonta, Amazon has engaged in 'countless' interactions where the Seattle-based tech giant, its rivals, and merchants allegedly agreed to fix prices to ensure Amazon wouldn't be undercut on competitor websites such as eBay, Target, and Walmart. In a statement responding to the filing, Amazon dismissed the motion as 'a transparent attempt to distract from the weakness of its case,' noting it came more than three years after the initial complaint and supposedly 'new' evidence that authorities have had for years. The e-commerce giant maintains that its agreements with merchants are 'procompetitive,' legal, and commonplace in the industry, benefiting consumers through increased product selection, appropriate stocking, and competitive prices.
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable remedy of the "interdict".
"When a court employs the extraord...
A price war is a form of market competition in which companies within an industry engage in aggressive pricing activity "characterized by the repeated cutting of prices below those of competitors". This leads to a cycle, where each competitor attempts to match or undercut the price of the other. Com...
California () is a state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With almost 40 million residents across an area of 163,696 ...
try{ var _=i o; . if(!_||_&&typeof _==="object"&&_.expiry AMD stock surges 14% on Meta AI partnership deal Bitcoin slips, wipes out 50% from October record high at session low Wall Street ends higher on tech rebound ahead of State of the Union address Software stocks rebound as Anthropic partnerships ease AI disruption fears (South Africa Philippines Nigeria) California seeks injunction to stop Amazon’s alleged stifling of price competition By Reuters Stock Markets Published 02/24/2026, 11:05 AM Updated 02/24/2026, 08:24 PM California seeks injunction to stop Amazon’s alleged stifling of price competition 0 AMZN 1.62% By Jonathan Stempel Feb 24 - California asked a state judge on Tuesday to stop Amazon.com from inflating prices for consumers through an alleged campaign to bully merchants not to sell goods more cheaply elsewhere. The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, sought a preliminary injunction in his 3-1/2-year-old antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, which also seeks to recoup ill-gotten profits. "Amazon’s goal is to insulate itself from price competition by preventing lower retail prices in the market," Bonta said in a heavily redacted filing in the California Superior Court in San Francisco. "Amazon tells vendors what prices it wants to see to maintain its own profitability." Bonta said his office has uncovered "countless" interactions where Seattle-based Amazon, rivals and merchants agreed to fix prices to ensure that Amazon would not be undercut on websites such as eBay, Target and Walmart. In a statement, Amazon said: "The Attorney General’s motion is a transparent attempt to distract from the weakness of its case, coming more than three years after filing its complaint and based on supposedly ‘new’ evidence they have had for years. Amazon looks forward to responding in court." Bonta said Amazon and rivals, with merchants acting as intermediaries, often agreed to raise prices or make products temporarily unavailable, eliminating any need for price-matching...
