Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

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 March 31, 2022 (in millions):


	Nine Months Ended December 31,		Year Ended December 31,
	2022		2023		2024		2025		2026		Thereafter		Total
Long-term debt principal and interest	$	2,572	$	4,862	$	7,017	$	3,400	$	3,829	$	52,784	$	74,464
Operating lease liabilities	5,883		7,429		6,890		6,364		5,798		33,780		66,144
Finance lease liabilities, including interest	5,459		4,748		2,266		1,357		1,224		8,040		23,094
Financing obligations, including interest (1)	340		466		465		456		464		7,181		9,372
Leases not yet commenced	959		2,006		2,412		2,378		2,422		23,593		33,770
Unconditional purchase obligations (2)	4,390		5,838		5,153		4,712		4,166		9,394		33,653
Other commitments (3)(4)	2,642		1,842		1,319		973		1,093		10,938		18,807
Total commitments	$	22,245	$	27,191	$	25,522	$	19,640	$	18,996	$	145,710	$	259,304

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(1)Includes non-cancellable financing obligations for fulfillment, sortation, and data center facilities. Excluding interest, current financing obligations of $196 million and $217 million are recorded within “Accrued expenses and other” and $6.2 billion and $6.8 billion are recorded within “Other long-term liabilities” as of December 31, 2021 and March 31, 2022. The weighted-average remaining term of the financing obligations was 18.8 years and the weighted-average imputed interest rate was 3.2% and 3.3% as of December 31, 2021 and March 31, 2022.

(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.

(3)Includes the estimated timing and amounts of payments for rent and tenant improvements associated with build-to-suit lease arrangements that are under construction, asset retirement obligations, and liabilities associated with digital media content agreements with initial terms greater than one year.

(4)Excludes approximately $3.3 billion of accrued tax contingencies for which we cannot make a reasonably reliable estimate of the amount and period of payment, if any.

In addition, we expect to pay the previously disclosed €1.13 billion fine imposed by the Italian Competition Authority in December 2021, which we will seek to recover pending conclusion of all appeals.

Other Contingencies

We are disputing claims and denials of refunds or credits 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 relate to (i) the taxability of products and services, including cross-border intercompany transactions, (ii) collection and withholding on transactions with third parties, 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 matters described in Item 8 of Part II, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data — Note 7 — Commitments and Contingencies — Legal Proceedings” of our 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K as supplemented by the following:

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, both 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. We dispute the allegations of wrongdoing and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter.

Beginning in March 2020, with Frame-Wilson v. Amazon.com, Inc. filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, a number of cases have been filed in the U.S. and Canada alleging, among other things, price fixing arrangements between Amazon.com, Inc. and third-party sellers in Amazon’s stores, monopolization and attempted monopolization, and consumer protection and unjust enrichment claims. Some of the 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 actual damages, treble damages, punitive damages, and injunctive relief. Individuals have also initiated arbitrations based on substantially similar allegations. In March 2022, the court in the Frame-Wilson case granted Amazon’s motion to dismiss claims alleging that Amazon’s pricing policies are inherently illegal under federal law and claims alleging competition and consumer protection violations under state law, and denied Amazon’s motion to dismiss claims alleging that Amazon’s pricing policies are an unlawful restraint of trade under federal law. We dispute the remaining allegations of wrongdoing and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in these matters.

In November 2021, Jawbone Innovations, LLC filed a complaint against Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com Services, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The complaint alleges, among other things, that Amazon Echo smart speakers and displays, Fire TV Cube, and Echo Buds infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 7,246,058, entitled “Detecting Voiced and Unvoiced Speech Using Both Acoustic and Nonacoustic Sensors”; 8,019,091, entitled “Voice Activity Detector (VAD)-Based Multiple-Microphone Acoustic Noise Suppression”; 8,280,072, entitled “Microphone Array with Rear Venting”; 8,321,213 and 8,326,611, both entitled “Acoustic Voice Activity Detection (AVAD) for Electronic Systems”; 8,467,543, entitled “Microphone and Voice Activity Detection (VAD) Configurations for Use with Communications Systems”; 8,503,691, entitled “Virtual Microphone Arrays Using Dual Omnidirectional Microphone Array (DOMA)”; 10,779,080, entitled “Dual Omnidirectional Microphone Array (DOMA)”; and 11,122,357, entitled “Forming Virtual Microphone Arrays Using Dual Omnidirectional Microphone Array (DOMA).” 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 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.