Amazon probed by EU on data collection from rivals

Amazon.com Inc risks following in the footsteps of Google after the European Union’s antitrust chief said regulators are asking how the online retailer is treating smaller rivals trading on its own website.

After fining Google billions of euros, the EU is checking how Amazon gathers information on sales made by competitors on Amazon Marketplace and whether that gives it an edge when it sells to customers, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told reporters at a press conference in Brussels. While she stressed that the EU investigation of Amazon is at a very early stage, she said her team is 'trying to understand this issue in full.'

US companies repatriated $169bn in Q2

US corporations are required to pay a one-time tax on their offshore profits, but don’t expect those stockpiled funds to come onshore quickly - or ever.

Companies repatriated US$169.5bn in the second quarter this year, according to data released on Wednesday by the Commerce Department, up from US$34.9bn a year earlier. Still, that followed a downwardly revised US$294.9bn returned in the first quarter.

The numbers for the first half of the year are just a fraction of the more than US$3tn companies are estimated to have accumulated overseas to defer US taxes on the money.