In the middle of a fight with a major book publisher, Amazon is also flexing its muscles against one of the world’s biggest media conglomerates — Disney. Amazon has halted preorders of nearly all of Disney’s Blu-Ray and DVD discs to pressure the media company to reduce its prices, in a tactic already deployed against the Hachette book publishing firm and Warner Bros. Home Media Magazine first reported last week that the Seattle-based retail giant suddenly dropped the preorder options for discs of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Maleficent and several others. (But you can still preorder the online-streaming versions to watch on Amazon Instant Prime.)Bloomberg News today called the Disney move a sign that Amazon is becoming more willing to pressure its suppliers. Amazon itself is under pressure from investors to reduce its financial losses. While Amazon asked the public to email Hachette asking it to sell books more cheaply; GeekWire reported that the book firm’s CEO, Michael Pietsch, spent part of Sunday emailing those who wrote him on Amazon’s behalf. Pietsch thanked the writers for caring about books and suggested that they “call on Amazon to withdraw the sanctions against Hachette’s authors.” — M.L.
Amazon vs. The World
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By Marissa Luck
Marissa Luck is a Tacoma-based writer and editorial intern at Crosscut. She has previously reported on issues of activism, homelessness, and Olympia city news for Works in Progress and Olympia Power &
Marissa Luck is a Tacoma-based writer and editorial intern at Crosscut. She has previously reported on issues of activism, homelessness, and Olympia city news for Works in Progress and Olympia Power &