Amazon Stock Falls Amid FTC Lawsuit Over Alleged Advertising Price Manipulation

Amazon's stock price declined by nearly 1.8% on Tuesday due to a new antitrust lawsuit from US regulators over allegations of manipulating advertising prices on its marketplace.

The Federal Trade Commission and 22 US states sued the e-commerce giant, claiming that Amazon secretly increased the minimum amount required for advertisers to place ads promoting products on its platform.

According to the FTC, Amazon systematically inflated advertising auction prices without advertisers' knowledge, potentially costing them $20 billion or more.

AWS, Amazon's cloud business, remains a major growth driver for the company, with analysts maintaining a bullish view despite the near-term pressure from the lawsuit.

Citi and Citizens maintained their 'Buy' ratings for Amazon, citing continued strength in AWS infrastructure spending and improving artificial-intelligence demand at AWS.