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Amazon shares fell sharply on Monday after a report said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is preparing to sue the e-commerce giant over allegations that it unfairly increased advertising prices for businesses using its retail platform.
Amazon.com Inc. stock dropped 2.8% following the Wall Street Journal report, which said the FTC intends to file the lawsuit in federal court in Seattle. More than 20 state attorneys general from both Republican- and Democratic-led states are expected to join the case, including officials from New York, California and Florida.
The FTC is expected to accuse Amazon of misleading advertisers by secretly increasing the minimum prices merchants had to pay to promote products. The alleged practices occurred over roughly seven years.
According to the report, Amazon changed its advertising auction system beginning in 2018 by introducing its own bid, known as a “soft reserve.” This bid could exceed the runner-up offer, effectively increasing the final advertising price. Regulators are expected to argue that Amazon had access to competing merchant bids without adequately disclosing the practice.
Amazon advertising executives reportedly monitored the additional revenue generated by the strategy and initially used it primarily during major shopping events, when advertisers could attribute higher costs to increased competition.
In recent years, Amazon reportedly intervened in advertising auctions to increase minimum prices around 70% to 80% of the time. The FTC is expected to allege that the practice increased pay-per-click advertising costs by as much as 50% during major shopping days.
Amazon states on its website that it uses “reserve pricing,” which can influence advertising costs.
Advertising has become a major business for Amazon, which operates the world's third-largest digital advertising platform behind Alphabet's Google and Meta Platforms. Amazon generated $68 billion in advertising revenue in 2025, according to securities filings.
The planned action would mark the FTC's third major case against Amazon. The company paid $2.5 billion last year to settle allegations involving Prime subscriptions, while a separate FTC lawsuit accusing Amazon of illegal monopolization is scheduled to go to trial next year.
