It may seem odd given that Barnes & Noble is the company that added Google Books to its e-book reader’s on-line store, and given that Amazon and Google are on opposite sides of the Google Books scanning and settlement issue, but apparently the FTC has investigated “close ties between Amazon and Google”.
The New York Times “Bits” blog reports, based on unnamed sources, that a venture capitalist John Doerr, who sat on both Amazon’s and Google’s boards of directors, has chosen to resign from Amazon’s board in the wake of an FTC investigation similar to the one that caused resignations from Apple and Google’s boards last year.
Robert Schroeder, the F.T.C.’s regional director in Seattle, where Amazon is based, declined to discuss specific companies but said, “We have an interest in making sure companies are complying with the Clayton Antitrust Act.”
Now, of course, Amazon, Google, and Apple are considered the “big three” most likely candidates for dominance in the emerging e-book market. So it stands to reason the FTC would look particularly closely at them.
