"Maleficent" and "The Guardians of the Galaxy" are back in the
biggest store on the Internet.
Amazon.com Inc. appears to be close to settling a nearly
two-month dispute with Walt Disney Co. during which the e-commerce
giant stopped offering Disney DVDs for preorder. Among the subjects
at issue were pricing, promotion on the Amazon website, and
questions over who makes up the difference when Amazon loses money
to match the prices of competitors.
Details of the talks weren't available and it is unclear whether
the two companies are finalizing a new long-term deal or have
simply progressed far enough that Amazon was willing to make a
concession. But upcoming Disney DVD releases including "Guardians,"
"Maleficent," "Million Dollar Arm," "Planes: Fire and Rescue" and
"The 100-Foot Journey" returned to Amazon last week, a
knowledgeable person confirmed.
The Disney-Amazon feud began in early August. A similar dispute
between Amazon and Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. in the spring
lasted several weeks. Warner Bros. movies became available for
preorder again in June after the studio and Amazon had made
significant progress toward a deal, but had not finished ironing
out details.
Amazon continues to negotiate a contract with publisher Hachette
Book Group, a unit of Lagardere SCA, over e-book pricing terms. In
that dispute, Amazon has for about six months slowed delivery of
many Hachette titles, reduced discounts and limited preordering as
a tactic to get the publisher to agree to its terms. Amazon wants
Hachette to price most of its e-books at $9.99, a price it says
leads to the most sales. Hachette has said it should be free to
price its titles as it sees fit.
The result of Amazon's negotiations with Hachette is expected to
be a bellwether for its talks with the other major publishers. That
is one reason Hatchette CEO Michael Pietsch has held his ground
against Amazon, even as Hachette authors have complained the feud
has cratered sales.
Testy contract renewals with suppliers are nothing new for
Amazon, but in the past year they have spilled into public view
more frequently than in the past. In previous disputes, the
Internet giant took fewer steps such as halting preorders and
changing search results to emphasize competitors" products.
Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com and Greg Bensinger at
greg.bensinger@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires