Did Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) Reach A Resolution?

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It seems that Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) have finally reached a settlement on a dispute that lasted for almost two months. During the time of this dispute, the online retail giant did not offer DVDs from Disney for preorder. The issues in question included promotion on the Amazon.com website, pricing, and who is responsible for the difference in price when Amazon loses money to match the prices of its retail rivals.

Details of the discussions were not available and it cannot be determined whether the two firms are signed a new deal for the long term, or if the talks have simply gotten to a point where Amazon was willing to concede a little bit. But it was confirmed that upcoming DVD releases by Disney, such as “Million Dollar Arm,” “Planes: Fire and Rescue,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The 100-Foot Journey,” and “Maleficent” were back on the Amazon site last week.

The feud between Amazon and Disney started in early August. In the spring Amazon and TimeWarner Inc (NASDAQ:TWX) become embroiled in a similar dispute, and continued for several weeks. While the deal with Amazon and Time Warner had made significant progress, but the two companies still have not finished figuring out the details.

Amazon is still in the process of negotiating a contract with Hachette Book Group, a publishing unit of Lagardere SCA. The talks are in regards to the pricing terms of e-books. Amazon has reduced the delivery of many titles from Hachette for the past six months, taken away discounts, and slowed down preordering as a method to get the publisher to agree to its terms of the deal. The online retailer was the publishing company to price the majority of its e-books at $9.99, a price that Amazon says will yield the most sales. Hachette maintains that it should be able to price its titles as it sees fit.

The outcome of Amazon’s discussions with Hachette will likely set the tone for its negotiations with the other major publishing companies. This is one of the main reasons that Michael Pietsch, the chief executive officer of Hachette, has maintained his stance against Amazon’s persuasion efforts, even though authors of Hachette have complained that the disagreements has significantly impeded sales.

Complicated renewals of contracts with suppliers is an area of expertise for the online retail company. However, its discussions in the past year have been more in the public eye than usual. In its past disputes, Amazon took engaged in fewer measures of negotiation, like stopping preorders and manipulating search results to put certain products at a disadvantage.

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