Amazon Japan Raided For Antitrust Violations, "Cooperation Payments"

"There was a time when the phrase "cooperation payments" evoked images of burly, muscle-bound goons, walking around town, sometimes armed with a baseball bat but usually relying only on their reputation of being able to extract cold hard cash from local merchants in exchange for "protection". This morning in Japan, it appears nothing has changed.

According to Japanese press this morning, Amazon Japan is being investigated by the country's antitrust regulator on  allegations of asking vendors for a percentage of their sales revenue.

As the  Nikkei reports, the Japanese arm of the U.S. e-commerce giant whose name had already appeared increasingly in discussions of market monopolies and anti-trust violations,  began requesting its vendors contribute "cooperation payments" from around 2017,  claiming that the contributions would be used for system upgrades and other improvements.  The requested payments ranged from a few percent to well over 10% of sales prices.  The company is also alleged to have requested vendors help absorb the costs of discounting goods. ...."

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-15/amazon-japan-raided-antitrust-violations-cooperation-payments