By almost any measure, Amazon is big.
It’s valuedat around $900 billion, even after a recent global slip in retail.
It’s the country’s second-largest corporate employer.
It handles and shipsmore than a fifth of all packagesin the US.
But CEO Andy Jassy favors a different way of framing Amazon’s magnitude.
Hesaid it againin a Vanity Fair interview after taking charge of Amazon in 2021.
As it happens, the Federal Trade Commission is conducting an antitrust probe of Amazon.
Multiple suits from state attorneys general are aiming toloosen Amazon’s gripon how third-party sellers set prices.
And bills floated by Congress targetAmazon’s power to promote its productsover similar items listed by third-party sellers.
“This is where Amazon competes for customers.”
Nonetheless, antitrust watchdogs say the 1% figure is a distraction.
“It doesn’t matter to Americans what Amazon’s global number is.
That’s a lot.
Still, Amazon keeps suggesting 1% is small.
“The broader they can define the market, then the lower their market share,” he said.
Amazon’s spokesperson said this wasn’t the company’s motivation for giving the 1% figure.
“That is not what we are doing,” the spokesperson said.
“We are looking at competition, and we compete with all retailers.
We sell the same products they sell and customers readily purchase from both online and offline sources.”
Additionally, a large market share isn’t the only evidence regulators use to prove illegal monopoly power.
They also give a shot to show that companies have the ability to raise prices or exclude competitors.
Such an assessment must be based on data about how people really shop.
Amazon says it’s a fair way to look at the market it competes in.
To be sure, Amazon doesn’t have a major stake of every US retail segment.
That’s why regulators are likely to focus on the specific areas of retail where Amazon leads.
In some of those segments, regulators could argue that Amazon doesn’t have any legitimate competitors.
“This is their No.
