Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy will be compelled to testify before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in an investigation about Amazon’s Prime membership program after failing to overturn a subpoena.
The FTC launched a probe in March 2021 to examine whether Amazon lured customers into signing up for its annual Prime membership and intentionally made the cancellation process difficult. The regulator issued a subpoena in June asking Bezos, Jassy and 15 other Amazon employees to testify.
In response, Amazon in August submitted a petition seeking to cancel the subpoena, arguing that those individuals weren’t familiar with the details of Prime’s sign-up and cancellation process. The FTC denied Amazon’s request in an order written by Republican Commissioner Christine Wilson on Sept. 21.
In a statement, Amazon said it’s “disappointed but unsurprised” at the FTC’s decision. “We remain concerned that the latest requests are overly broad and needlessly burdensome, and we will explore all our options,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
