Trump vs Bezos, Persistent Rivalry... This Time They Face Off in Court

After Amazon's Bid Failure in the $10 Billion Department of Defense Cloud Project

Bezos Requests U.S. Federal Court Hearing, Citing "Unfair Pressure" from Trump

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Donald Trump, President of the United States, and Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon. The two, known for their long-standing animosity, are now set to face off in court. This follows Amazon's failure to win the bid for the Department of Defense's $10 billion (approximately 11.84 trillion KRW) cloud project. Amazon claims that President Trump, who harbors ill feelings toward Bezos, exerted unfair pressure on the U.S. Department of Defense.

According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 10th (local time), Amazon has requested a hearing in a U.S. federal court regarding President Trump and Defense Secretary Mark Esper. Amazon argues that a hearing involving both individuals is essential to determine whether President Trump interfered in the Department of Defense project.

Previously, Amazon participated in the Department of Defense's 'Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI)' bidding. JEDI is a project to implement cloud computing systems for the Department of Defense and its affiliated military agencies. The project spans 10 years and is valued at $10 billion, making it a massive undertaking. It is considered the largest IT project within the U.S. administration. Securing such a large contract increases the likelihood of winning other federal government cloud projects in the future. The cloud industry has thus engaged in fierce competition to secure this contract, with participants including Amazon, Microsoft (MS), Oracle, and IBM.

Initially, the industry viewed Amazon as the frontrunner. Amazon holds a dominant 48% market share in the cloud sector and has advantages in technology and experience. However, in October last year, the Department of Defense selected MS, the second-ranked company, as the contractor. MS's cloud service 'Azure' holds a 16% market share.

Amazon immediately protested. Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon's cloud business division, stated, "Amazon is uniquely capable of providing the core technologies required by the U.S. military," adding, "We believe it is important for the government and elected leaders to operate procurement projects objectively and free from political influence."

Amazon's decision to take the dispute to court stems from the belief that President Trump issued unfair directives during the contractor selection process. Indeed, after President Trump ordered a review of the contractor selection in July last year, the situation shifted, and MS was ultimately chosen. At the time, President Trump said, "We are receiving tremendous complaints about the Pentagon's contract with Amazon," and "We will take a close look at how things are going with them."

The feud between Bezos and Trump began during the 2016 presidential election. The U.S. IT industry, including Amazon, tends to lean Democratic, and the Washington Post (WP), owned by Bezos, is known for its 'anti-Trump' stance. During the 2016 election, WP formed a large 'Trump tracking team' to investigate the then-candidate Trump's past activities. Even after Trump's election, WP broke exclusive stories on Trump's Achilles' heel, the 'Russian interference in the U.S. election' allegations, and also reported on Trump's alleged sexual relationship with a porn actress, which caused him considerable trouble.

President Trump has also openly expressed his animosity toward Bezos. Since taking office, Trump has repeatedly made sharp remarks such as "Amazon harms retailers" and "Amazon is causing jobs to disappear," each time causing Amazon's stock price to plummet.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.