Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Commitments

The following summarizes our principal contractual commitments, excluding open orders for purchases that support normal operations and are generally cancellable, as of December 31, 2023 (in millions):


	Year Ended December 31,
	2024		2025		2026		2027		2028		Thereafter		Total
Long-term debt principal and interest	$	10,616	$	7,175	$	4,858	$	10,404	$	3,643	$	60,176	$	96,872
Operating lease liabilities	11,229		9,922		9,156		8,321		7,546		44,603		90,777
Finance lease liabilities, including interest	2,292		1,471		1,369		1,123		1,022		6,829		14,106
Financing obligations, including interest (1)	469		462		468		476		484		6,282		8,641
Leases not yet commenced	2,034		2,620		2,836		2,852		2,979		24,860		38,181
Unconditional purchase obligations (2)	9,432		7,823		5,901		4,463		1,912		5,953		35,484
Other commitments (3)	3,273		1,390		1,125		759		680		9,121		16,348
Total commitments	$	39,345	$	30,863	$	25,713	$	28,398	$	18,266	$	157,824	$	300,409

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(1)Includes non-cancellable financing obligations for fulfillment network and data center facilities. Excluding interest, current financing obligations of $266 million and $271 million are recorded within “Accrued expenses and other” and $6.7 billion and $6.6 billion are recorded within “Other long-term liabilities” as of December 31, 2022 and 2023. The weighted-average remaining term of the financing obligations was 17.9 years and 17.0 years and the weighted-average imputed interest rate was 3.1% as of December 31, 2022 and 2023.

(2)Includes unconditional purchase obligations related to long-term agreements to acquire and license digital media content that are not reflected on the consolidated balance sheets, and certain products offered in our Whole Foods Market stores. For those digital media content agreements with variable terms, we do not estimate the total obligation beyond any minimum quantities and/or pricing as of the reporting date. Purchase obligations associated with renewal provisions solely at the option of the content provider are included to the extent such commitments are fixed or a minimum amount is specified. Renewable energy agreements based on actual generation without a fixed or minimum volume commitment are not included. These agreements also provide the right to receive renewable energy certificates for no additional consideration.

(3)Includes asset retirement obligations, liabilities associated with digital media content agreements with initial terms greater than one year, and the estimated timing and amounts of payments for rent and tenant improvements associated with build-to-suit lease arrangements that are under construction. Excludes approximately $5.2 billion of income tax contingencies for which we cannot make a reasonably reliable estimate of the amount and period of payment, if any.

Suppliers

During 2023, no vendor accounted for 10% or more of our purchases. We generally do not have long-term contracts or arrangements with our vendors to guarantee the availability of merchandise, particular payment terms, or the extension of credit limits.

Other Contingencies

We are disputing claims and denials of refunds or credits, and monitoring or evaluating potential claims, related to various non-income taxes (such as sales, value added, consumption, service, and similar taxes), including in jurisdictions in which we already collect and remit these taxes. These non-income tax controversies typically include (i) the taxability of products and services, including cross-border intercompany transactions, (ii) collection and withholding on transactions with third parties, including as a result of evolving requirements imposed on marketplaces with respect to third-party sellers, and (iii) the adequacy of compliance with reporting obligations, including evolving documentation requirements. Due to the inherent complexity and uncertainty of these matters and the judicial and regulatory processes in certain jurisdictions, the final outcome of any such controversies may be materially different from our expectations.

Legal Proceedings

The Company is involved from time to time in claims, proceedings, and litigation, including the following:

In November 2015, Eolas Technologies, Inc. filed a complaint against Amazon.com, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The complaint alleges, among other things, that the use of “interactive features” on www.amazon.com, including “search suggestions and search results,” infringes U.S. Patent No. 9,195,507, entitled “Distributed

Hypermedia Method and System for Automatically Invoking External Application Providing Interaction and Display of Embedded Objects Within a Hypermedia Document.” The complaint sought a judgment of infringement together with costs and attorneys’ fees. In February 2016, Eolas filed an amended complaint seeking, among other things, an unspecified amount of damages. In February 2017, Eolas alleged in its damages report that in the event of a finding of liability Amazon could be subject to $130 million to $250 million in damages. In April 2017, the case was transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. In May 2022, the district court granted summary judgment, holding that the patent is invalid. In June 2022, Eolas filed a notice of appeal. In February 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and will continue to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter.

In May 2018, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and CF Dynamic Advances LLC filed a complaint against Amazon.com, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. The complaint alleges, among other things, that “Alexa Voice Software and Alexa enabled devices” infringe U.S. Patent No. 7,177,798, entitled “Natural Language Interface Using Constrained Intermediate Dictionary of Results.” The complaint seeks an injunction, an unspecified amount of damages, enhanced damages, an ongoing royalty, interest, attorneys’ fees, and costs. In March 2023, the plaintiffs alleged in their damages report that in the event of a finding of liability Amazon could be subject to $140 million to $267 million in damages. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter.

In December 2018, Kove IO, Inc. filed a complaint against Amazon Web Services, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The complaint alleges, among other things, that Amazon S3 and DynamoDB infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 7,814,170 and 7,103,640, each entitled “Network Distributed Tracking Wire Transfer Protocol”; and 7,233,978, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Managing Location Information in a Network Separate from the Data to Which the Location Information Pertains.” The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of damages, enhanced damages, attorneys’ fees, costs, interest, and injunctive relief. In March 2022, the case was stayed pending resolution of review petitions we filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In November 2022, the stay was lifted. In July 2023, Kove alleged in its damages report that in the event of a finding of liability Amazon Web Services could be subject to $517 million to $1.03 billion in damages. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter.

Beginning in June 2019 with Wilcosky v. Amazon.com, Inc., now pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (“N.D. Ill.”), private litigants have filed a number of cases in U.S. federal and state courts, including Hogan v. Amazon.com, Inc. (N.D. Ill.), alleging, among other things, that Amazon’s collection, storage, use, retention, and protection of biometric identifiers violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. The complaints allege purported classes of Illinois residents who had biometric identifiers collected through Amazon products or services, including Amazon Photos, Alexa, AWS cloud services, Ring, Amazon Connect, Amazon’s Flex driver app, and Amazon’s virtual try-on technology. The complaints seek certification as class actions, unspecified amounts of damages, injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees, costs, and interest. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in these matters.

Beginning in March 2020 with Frame-Wilson v. Amazon.com, Inc. filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (“W.D. Wash.”), private litigants have filed a number of cases in the U.S. and Canada alleging, among other things, price fixing arrangements between Amazon.com, Inc. and vendors and third-party sellers in Amazon’s stores, monopolization and attempted monopolization, and consumer protection and unjust enrichment claims. Attorneys General for the District of Columbia and California brought similar suits in May 2021 and September 2022 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and the California Superior Court for the County of San Francisco, respectively. Some of the private cases include allegations of several distinct purported classes, including consumers who purchased a product through Amazon’s stores and consumers who purchased a product offered by Amazon through another e-commerce retailer. The complaints seek billions of dollars of alleged damages, treble damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, civil penalties, attorneys’ fees, and costs. The Federal Trade Commission and a number of state Attorneys General filed a similar lawsuit in September 2023 in the W.D. Wash. alleging violations of federal antitrust and state antitrust and consumer protection laws. That complaint alleges, among other things, that Amazon has a monopoly in markets for online superstores and marketplace services, and unlawfully maintains those monopolies through anticompetitive practices relating to our pricing policies, advertising practices, the structure of Prime, and promotion of our own products on our website. The complaint seeks injunctive and structural relief, an unspecified amount of damages, and costs. Amazon’s motions to dismiss were granted in part and denied in part in Frame-Wilson in March 2022 and March 2023, De Coster v. Amazon.com, Inc. (W.D. Wash.) in January 2023, and the California Attorney General’s lawsuit in March 2023. All three courts dismissed claims alleging that Amazon’s pricing policies are inherently illegal and denied dismissal of claims alleging that Amazon’s pricing policies are an unlawful restraint of trade. In March 2022, the DC Superior Court dismissed the DC Attorney General’s lawsuit in its entirety; the dismissal is under appeal. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in these matters.

In October 2020, Broadband iTV, Inc. filed a complaint against Amazon.com, Inc., Amazon.com Services LLC, and Amazon Web Services, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. The complaint alleges, among other things, that certain Amazon Prime Video features and services infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 9,648,388, 10,546,750, and 10,536,751, each entitled “Video-On-Demand Content Delivery System for Providing Video-On-Demand Services to TV

Services Subscribers”; 10,028,026, entitled “System for Addressing On-Demand TV Program Content on TV Services Platform of a Digital TV Services Provider”; and 9,973,825, entitled “Dynamic Adjustment of Electronic Program Guide Displays Based on Viewer Preferences for Minimizing Navigation in VOD Program Selection.” The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of damages. In April 2022, Broadband iTV alleged in its damages report that in the event of a finding of liability Amazon could be subject to $166 million to $986 million in damages. In September 2022, the court granted summary judgment, holding that the patents are invalid. In October 2022, Broadband iTV filed a notice of appeal. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and will continue to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter.

In July 2021, the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection (the “CNPD”) issued a decision against Amazon Europe Core S.à r.l. claiming that Amazon’s processing of personal data did not comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation. The decision imposes a fine of €746 million and corresponding practice revisions. We believe the CNPD’s decision to be without merit and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter.

In December 2021, the Italian Competition Authority (the “ICA”) issued a decision against Amazon Services Europe S.à r.l., Amazon Europe Core S.à r.l., Amazon EU S.à r.l., Amazon Italia Services S.r.l., and Amazon Italia Logistica S.r.l. claiming that certain of our marketplace and logistics practices in Italy infringe EU competition rules. The decision imposes remedial actions and a fine of €1.13 billion, which we have paid and will seek to recover pending conclusion of all appeals. We believe the ICA’s decision to be without merit and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter.

In July 2022, Acceleration Bay, LLC filed a complaint against Amazon Web Services, Inc. in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. The complaint alleges, among other things, that Amazon EC2, Amazon CloudFront, AWS Lambda, Amazon Lumberyard, Luna, Amazon Prime Video, Twitch, Amazon GameLift, GridMate, Amazon EKS, AWS App Mesh, and Amazon VPC infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 6,701,344, entitled “Distributed Game Environment”; 6,714,966, entitled “Information Delivery Service”; 6,732,147, entitled “Leaving a Broadcast Channel”; 6,829,634, entitled “Broadcasting Network”; and 6,910,069, entitled “Joining a Broadcast Channel.” The complaint seeks injunctive relief, an unspecified amount of damages, enhanced damages, interest, attorneys’ fees, and costs. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter.

In November 2022, LightGuide, Inc. filed a complaint against Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com Services LLC in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The complaint alleges, among other things, that Amazon’s Nike Intent Detection System used in certain fulfillment centers infringes U.S. Patent Nos. 7,515,981, entitled “Light Guided Assembly System”; and 9,658,614 and 10,528,036, each entitled “Light Guided Assembly System and Method.” The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of damages, enhanced damages, attorneys’ fees, costs, interest, and injunctive relief. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter.

In May 2023, Dialect, LLC filed a complaint against Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon Web Services, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District for Virginia. The complaint alleges, among other things, that Amazon’s Alexa-enabled products and services, such as Echo devices, Fire tablets, Fire TV sticks, Fire TVs, Alexa, and Alexa Voice Services, infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 7,693,720 and 9,031,845, each entitled “Mobile Systems and Methods for Responding to Natural Language Speech Utterance”; 8,015,006, entitled “Systems and Methods for Processing Natural Language Speech Utterances with Context-Specific Domain Agents”; 8,140,327, entitled “System and Method for Filtering and Eliminating Noise from Natural Language Utterances to Improve Speech Recognition and Parsing”; 8,195,468 and 9,495,957, each entitled “Mobile Systems and Methods of Supporting Natural Language Human-Machine Interactions”; and 9,263,039, entitled “Systems and Methods for Responding to Natural Language Speech Utterance.” The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of damages, enhanced damages, attorneys’ fees, costs, interest, and injunctive relief. In November 2023, the court granted in part Amazon’s motion to dismiss Dialect’s complaint and dismissed the ‘845 patent from the case. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter.

Beginning in October 2023, Nokia Technologies Oy and related entities filed complaints alleging infringement of patents related to video-related technologies against Amazon.com, Inc. and related entities in multiple courts in the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Brazil, the Unified Patent Court of the European Union, and the United States International Trade Commission. The complaints allege, among other things, that certain Amazon Prime Video services and features of Amazon devices carrying the Prime Video app infringe Nokia’s patents; some of the complaints additionally allege infringement by Freevee, Twitch, and Amazon voice assistants. The complaints seek, among other things, injunctive relief and, in some cases, unspecified money damages, enhanced damages, attorneys’ fees, costs, interest, and declaratory relief. These matters are at various procedural stages, with preliminary injunctions issued in certain instances. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in these matters.

In addition, we are regularly subject to claims, litigation, and other proceedings, including potential regulatory proceedings, involving patent and other intellectual property matters, taxes, labor and employment, competition and antitrust, privacy and data protection, consumer protection, commercial disputes, goods and services offered by us and by third parties, and other matters.

The outcomes of our legal proceedings and other contingencies are inherently unpredictable, subject to significant uncertainties, and could be material to our operating results and cash flows for a particular period. We evaluate, on a regular basis, developments in our legal proceedings and other contingencies that could affect the amount of liability, including amounts in excess of any previous accruals and reasonably possible losses disclosed, and make adjustments and changes to our accruals and disclosures as appropriate. For the matters we disclose that do not include an estimate of the amount of loss or range of losses, such an estimate is not possible or is immaterial, and we may be unable to estimate the possible loss or range of losses that could potentially result from the application of non-monetary remedies. Until the final resolution of such matters, if any of our estimates and assumptions change or prove to have been incorrect, we may experience losses in excess of the amounts recorded, which could have a material effect on our business, consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.