Due to antitrust scrutiny and conflicts with customers, Amazon could spin off its cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services, analysts from Oppenheimer noted Nov. 18 and cited by Business Insider.
"Channel conflicts with Amazon.com (retail, logistics, healthcare, grocery) could also pressure sales to larger customers, and we believe [Amazon] will face increased regulatory pressures, which could eventually force AWS to split with [Amazon]," Oppenheimer noted.
Although selling AWS would cost Amazon major operating income losses, the decision wouldn't be too complicated. As a whole, AWS operates independently from Amazon. The biggest challenge would be developing an operating agreement for Amazon to use the cloud services, reports Business Insider.
Amazon is also facing pressure from politicians to break apart. However, this is not the first time Amazon has faced pressure to sell its cloud businesses. AWS CEO Andy Jassy has not signaled that he would be splitting from Amazon. Additionally, he told Business Insider that Amazon does not often make decisions based on political pressure.