Amazon to share more data with rivals after EU deal

Amazon will share more data with rivals and offer buyers a wider choice of products, as part of a deal with EU antitrust regulators that will close two of the most high-profile probes in Brussels.

Details of the deal are being shared with Amazon’s rivals to make sure that they would remove competition concerns before the European Commission can announce an agreement.

Regulators are set to announce the so-called market test next week before a deal is formally agreed after the summer. Three people with knowledge of the matter said there could be minor changes but nothing that could scupper an agreement.

As part of the deal, Amazon will allow third-party sellers on its marketplace to access more information that can help them sell more products online.

The deal comes three years after antitrust officials opened a probe into Amazon’s alleged anti-competitive practices in how it handles data from competitors.

Investigators suspected that Amazon, with its dual role as both a marketplace and a retailer on its own platform, was breaking EU law by using market sensitive information to artificially favour its own retail business at the expense of rivals.

The timing and details of the agreement could still change, three people with direct knowledge of the talks said.

Amazon and the European Commission declined to comment.