When is competition fair and when is it an abuse of power? Amazon's potential move into selling ready-prepared ingredients to make meals at home is the logical extension of its planned purchase of Whole Foods. But that is Blue Apron's entire business. The company IPO'd recently at $10 a share. Blue Apron is down almost 40% from its IPO, in large part because it looks like Amazon is about to encroach on its home turf. Fair competition? Or abuse of Amazon's vast resources? Whether it's Facebook incorporating Snapchat's features, or Instagram hoovering up ideas from competitors, these behemoths of the tech world are threating startups with the very power of their size. This sort of competition is very difficult to regulate and monitor. It requires that authorities watch for predatory behavior and then ultimately sue the companies – like the EU did with Google (or the U.S. did against IBM and AT&T in years gone by). Of course, companies like Amazon must be allowed to enter new markets and offer competition. However, if that competition ultimately kills off the upstart and deters others from being creative, then a good old-fashioned abuse of power has been created and regulators must step in. Otherwise, we all lose out. -Richard.Quest@cnn.com |
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