Bloomberg reports that “in the past five years, Amazon increased lobbying spending by more than 400 percent, a rate of change that far exceeds rivals’. It lobbied more government agencies than any other tech company, pressed its case on as many issues as Google, and outspent everyone in the industry except for the search giant, the data show.”
The story notes that Amazon “has good reasons to amplify its presence in Washington. Big tech's long honeymoon of public goodwill is over and the company feels the painful transition as much as competitors like Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc. Amazon is fighting to be seen as a job creator, not a job killer, and is often blamed when traditional retail outlets close.”
The story goes on: “What makes Amazon different from its tech brethren is the company’s insatiable quest to sell everything from advertising to entertainment, groceries, computing power and soon, maybe even health care. That forces it to wrestle with a growing list of issues, including transportation, shipping, aviation, taxes, immigration and antitrust. Last year, it lobbied on 24 general issues (each of which could include dozens of laws or regulations), up from eight in 2012.”
The story notes that Amazon “has good reasons to amplify its presence in Washington. Big tech's long honeymoon of public goodwill is over and the company feels the painful transition as much as competitors like Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc. Amazon is fighting to be seen as a job creator, not a job killer, and is often blamed when traditional retail outlets close.”
The story goes on: “What makes Amazon different from its tech brethren is the company’s insatiable quest to sell everything from advertising to entertainment, groceries, computing power and soon, maybe even health care. That forces it to wrestle with a growing list of issues, including transportation, shipping, aviation, taxes, immigration and antitrust. Last year, it lobbied on 24 general issues (each of which could include dozens of laws or regulations), up from eight in 2012.”
- KC's View:
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Only 24 issues? That seems low to me.
