Giant book publisher Hachette is accusing Amazon of delaying deliveries of some of its books as a weapon in contract negotiations. “It is our normal policy not to comment on negotiations underway with any retailer,” Hachette said in a statement. “However, we have been asked legitimate questions about why many of our books are at present marked out of stock with relatively long estimated shipping times on the Amazon website, in contrast to immediate availability on other websites and in stores.” For anyone who has read Brad Stone’s book “The Everything Store,” which chronicles Amazon’s past negotiations with book publishers and acquisition targets, this alleged behavior should not be surprising. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
