Pandemic profiteering: Amazon caught price gouging as Jeff Bezos’s wealth soared to $200 billion

The online giant Amazon has made an extraordinary amount of money during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many people shelter at home and shop online. A new Public Citizen report documents how Amazon set prices for essential products during the crisis at levels that would violate price gouging laws in many states, and marked up some products by as much as 1,000%. “This is an ongoing thing. They are doing this currently. They’ve been doing it throughout the pandemic,” says Alex Harman, competition policy advocate for Public Citizen and author of the report. “They are looking to maximize profit during a pandemic.”