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Former Walmart US CEO says Congress should consider splitting up Amazon
Former Walmart US CEO Bill Simon says Congress should consider splitting up Amazon.
Amazon is "destroying jobs, and it's destroying value in the [retail] sector," he says.
Former vice chairman of Target Gerald Storch, who worked with Jeff Bezos in 2001, says tax laws are "antiquated."
Bill Simon, former Walmart US CEO, said Congress should look into splitting up Amazon.
"They're not making money in retail, and they're putting retailers out of business," Simon told CNBC.
He said the e-commerce giant has operated its retail segment at a loss for decades, subsidizing the retail portion of its business with profits from other areas, such as web services.
"It's anti-competitive, it's predatory, and it's not right," said Simon.
"It's not going to hurt the big ones," said Simon, who served as president and chief executive officer of Walmart U.S. from 2010 to 2014. "Walmart can adjust. It'll be there. Costco will continue to thrive."
"It'll hurt small retailers, and it'll hurt specialty chains," he said. "You see what's happened to Toys R Us and department stores. J.C. Penney is in trouble."
"That's because Amazon sells below cost and continues to do that," said Simon, who serves on the board of directors for Darden Restaurants. "It's destroying jobs, and it's destroying value in the sector," he said on "Closing Bell" on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump criticized Amazon's business practices in a Twitter post.
"Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state it was zero. Now it's taken over the whole economy."
Storch pointed out that half of all online product searches begin and end on Amazon, and said the playing field in retail should be more level, something it has not been in the past.
"Amazon is a lot more powerful than people realize," he said.