The former CEO of Walmart US, Bill Simon, is calling on Congress to consider taking action over Amazon’s heft, according to a report published by Racked.
Simon opined that the e-commerce behemoth is ‘destroying jobs, and it’s destroying value in the sector’.
“It’s anti-competitive, it’s predatory, and it’s not right,” he said. Simon added that the demise of bricks and mortar retailers such as Toys R Us as well as the poor performance of department stores such as JC Penney could be tracked back to Amazon, and it also has the potential to hurt small retailers.
US President Donald Trump has also tweeted his dismay over Amazon’s business practices recently, accusing the web-based retailer of failing to pay taxes and putting thousands of retailers out of business.
As Racked points out, concern from a former Walmart chief feels like sour grapes, not to mention hypocritical. The New York Times, writing on the same subject, rightly suggests that surely any antitrust legislation that could be used to break up Amazon would also apply to Walmart.