FTC TO SUE AMAZON $AMZN OVER SECRET AD PRICE INCREASES The FTC and more than 20 state attorneys general plan to file today in Seattle federal court, alleging Amazon secretly raised the minimum price advertisers paid to promote products on its retail platform and took in tens of billions of dollars over seven years, per WSJ. - Starting in 2018, Amazon entered its own "soft reserve" bid above the runner-up bid, raising the price paid for the ad, the FTC will allege - In recent years it stepped in to lift the minimum 70-80% of the time - The agency claims the practice raised pay-per-click costs 50% on major shopping days Amazon's public advertiser page, last updated in April, says it uses "reserve pricing" that "may affect the cost of your ad." Amazon earned $68B from ads in 2025. This is the FTC's third major case against the company, after a $2.5B Prime settlement last year and a monopolization suit set for trial next year.