Amazon.com Inc. share price up, approaches a settlement with Disney over pre-orders dispute

Amazon.com Inc. seems to be approaching a settlement over an almost two-month long disagreement with Walt Disney Co. Over the period of the dispute, Amazon stopped offering the pre-order option for Disney DVDs amid a discord over prices, promotions on Amazons website and other issues.

The issue was first faced in early August 2014, placing Disney among other companies that have already had or continue to be having disagreements with Amazon. In the spring of 2014, a similar dispute arose between Amazon and Warner Bros that lasted for several weeks. The e-commerce company halted pre-orders of Warner Bros movies, but the option was once again made available in June following significant progress toward a deal.

Meanwhile, the U.S. e-commerce giant remains in negotiations with Lagardère SCAs Hachette Book Group division. The two companies had a massive disagreement over pricing terms of e-books provided by the company. For a period of about half a year, Amazon has slowed the delivery of many titles offered by Hachette, while also cutting discounts and limiting pre-orders to force the publisher to accept new terms.

According to the Wall Street Journal, last week the DVD releases of Disney that are yet to come, including “Maleficent”, “Million Dollar Arm” and “The 100-Foot Journey”, were listed among Amazons offerings. However, it remains unclear whether the two US-based companies will strike a new long-term agreement between them or have simply agreed over some of the issues.

Amazon was not immediately reached to make a comment on the situation with Disney after regular business hours.

Amazon.com Inc. settled 0.19% higher on Tuesday on the NASDAQ to close at $322.44 per share, marking a one-year change of +3.13% and valuing the company at $148.98 billion. Shares were up 0.35% at 255.75 euros at 10:07 GMT in Frankfurt on Wednesday. According to CNN Money, the 36 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Amazon.com Inc. have a median target of $400.00, with a high estimate of $460.00 and a low estimate of $325.00. The median estimate represents a +24.05% increase from the last price of $322.44.