Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to Testify at House Antitrust Hearing on July 27

On July 6, the House Judiciary Committee announced that the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Monday, July 27, with the CEOs of Amazon (Jeff Bezos), Apple (Tim Cook), Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg), and Google (Sundar Pichai). This will mark Bezos’ first appearance before Congress. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the CEOs will be allowed to appear virtually.

The hearing, scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET, is part of the Committee’s ongoing investigation into competition in the digital marketplace. The House Antitrust Subcommittee is expected to release a report on its antitrust investigation in the coming weeks.

The House Judiciary Committee had called on Bezos to testify as part of the investigation in a bipartisan letter to Amazon and Bezos in early May. While the committee asked Bezos to testify voluntarily, the letter left open the possibility for the committee to “resort to compulsory process if necessary.”

After initially saying it would not send Bezos but rather “the appropriate executive” to testify, Amazon reversed course and said it was willing to make Bezos available to testify at a hearing with other big tech CEOs.

A joint statement from House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler and Antitrust Subcommittee Chair David Cicilline read, “Since last June, the Subcommittee has been investigating the dominance of a small number of digital platforms and the adequacy of existing antitrust laws and enforcement. Given the central role these corporations play in the lives of the American people, it is critical that their CEOs are forthcoming. As we have said from the start, their testimony is essential for us to complete this investigation.”

View the hearing on July 27 at 12:00 p.m. ET.