In 2024, author CD Reiss sued Amazon, alleging exclusivity agreements and higher distribution fees for nonexclusive audiobooks harmed competition and authors; the complaint sought class status and more than $5 million. In June 2025, a federal judge denied Audible’s motion to dismiss, finding Reiss had sufficiently pleaded possible anticompetitive practices and market injury. The allegations remain claims.
Audible Inc. must face claims it excluded rivals from the audiobook retail market, after a federal judge said the plaintiff sufficiently pleaded antitrust injury.
Amazon has used exclusivity agreements “to lock up content,” impairing the ability of rivals to compete and affecting billions of dollars in audiobook sales, the lawsuit said.
On September 9, 2024, Audible said it would invite a select U.S. group of audiobook narrators to train AI on their voices. Narrators could approve use of their synthetic voice for specific titles and edit pronunciation and pacing; Audible said they would receive title-by-title royalty shares for audiobooks made with their AI voices.
Audible, Amazon’s audiobook business, on Monday announced that it’ll use AI trained on professional narrators’ voices to generate new audiobook recordings.
In May 2025, Audible announced plans to offer selected publishers managed or self-service AI production, with more than 100 synthetic voices in four languages and AI translation expected later. CEO Bob Carrigan said the technology could broaden access to audiobooks; writers, translators and narrators criticized the plan, citing risks to creative work and jobs.
Audible will offer publishers AI technology to produce audiobooks, which could affect workers in voiceover, production, translation, and engineering jobs.
Audible has announced plans to use AI technology to narrate audiobooks, with AI translation to follow.
In a 2023 interview, Audible founder Don Katz said its paid internships for Newark public-school students improved the company’s culture. He described Cornerstone, which hires people including single parents on public assistance and people released from prison, and said participants from nontraditional backgrounds became some of the company’s highest performers.
One of the ways you attempt to change a core problem with Audible is with your paid internship program for students from Newark public schools. Do you feel that program has debunked perceptions about the need for companies to hire from prestigious schools?
On July 9, 2026, a Washington federal judge dismissed a shopper’s proposed class action accusing Amazon and its subsidiary Audible of deceptively enrolling customers in audiobook subscriptions. The ruling was reported as a win for Amazon; the available account does not provide further details about the judge’s reasoning.
By Ben Adlin ( July 9, 2026, 11:13 PM EDT) -- A Washington federal judge handed a win to Amazon. com Inc. on Thursday, dismissing a shopper's proposed class action accusing the e-commerce giant and its subsidiary Audible Inc. of deceptively enrolling customers in audiobook service subscriptions. . . .
On July 17, 2023, Audible successfully defended a contract-breach claim brought by self-published authors. A judge found the publishing agreement unambiguously allowed Audible to deduct customer returns from royalties. The judge noted that authors might consider the policy unfair or misunderstand its effects, but said that did not change the contract’s meaning.
Audiobook platform Audible Inc. successfully defended itself against contract breach claims brought by self-published authors after a judge said their contract included a stipulation for deducting returns from royalties.
On January 14, 2020, Audible and five major publishers agreed to settle a copyright lawsuit over Audible’s planned use of captions in an education program. The publishers had alleged that Audible converted audiobooks into unauthorized text and distributed it. Audible defended the program as consistent with copyright law; settlement terms were not disclosed.
The so-called “Big Five” of publishing — Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins Publishers and Macmillan Publishers — were among those suing the audio book producer-distributor’s planned use of captions for an education-driven program. The suit was filed last August in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Books in the Audible program included “The Hunger Games” and “The Hate U Give.”
On April 6, 2020, Audible launched a free online collection of hundreds of audiobooks as U.S. schools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The collection targeted children engaged in distance learning and required no login, sign-up or payment details. CEO Bob Carrigan said it was intended to help keep young listeners engaged.
With classrooms closed due to COVID-19, millions of students across the United States are venturing into the realm of distance learning. To support these efforts, Amazon’s audiobook service, Audible, has launched an online collection of hundreds of free audiobooks primed for both education and entertainment.
In 2026, Audible introduced beta features including character guides, interactive stories and added book-related imagery and information. The initial rollout covered a small number of titles, including Dracula; Audible said it planned to expand availability. The interactive stories use generative AI, and the company said creators help keep them grounded in the books.
Facing new competition in the audiobook market from Spotify, Audible is turning to AI and other technology to enhance the listening experience. On Thursday, the Amazon-owned company introduced three new features that will allow listeners to explore a book’s characters, engage in interactive stories, and view additional imagery and bonus information about landmarks or places mentioned in the book.
A proposed class action filed in 2024 alleged Audible diverted users’ personally identifiable information to Meta through tracking pixels. In October 2025, a Washington federal judge dismissed the complaint’s California-law claims, finding Washington law governed; plaintiffs had one month to amend. The dismissal did not resolve whether the alleged tracking occurred.
Audible Inc. convinced a Washington state federal court to dismiss the California claims of a proposed class action over the Amazon unit’s use of Meta Platforms’ tracking pixel.
Amazon's podcast and audiobook service, Audible, has been hit with a privacy class action for allegedly diverting users' personally identifiable information to Meta Platforms.
In a 2023 interview, Audible founder Don Katz described launching an audiobook business before the industry existed, taking the company public and later making it an Amazon subsidiary, and moving it to Newark. Audible reported that consumers listened to nearly 4 billion hours of audio in 2022 across audiobooks, podcasts and theater productions.
In a Zoom interview, Katz reflected on the last two-and-a-half decades: from leaving a writing career to kickstart an audiobooks industry that did not yet exist; taking Audible from a public company into an Amazon subsidiary; and moving the company to Newark at a time when other companies were fleeing the city. Each of those moves has paid off: Audible consumers consumed nearly 4 billion hours of audio in 2022 across audiobooks, podcasts and theater productions, according to the company.
On January 11, 2024, Audible said it was laying off about 5% of its workforce. CEO Bob Carrigan told employees the company was in good shape but faced a challenging landscape and said it needed to become leaner and more efficient. Audible declined to disclose how many employees would be affected.
Amazon-owned online audiobook and podcast service Audible is laying off about 5% of its workforce, marking the third round of job cuts at the e-commerce giant’s businesses this week as the technology industry continues to shed roles in the new year.
In a 2023 interview, Audible founder Don Katz said he was glad his time as a public-company CEO, with responsibility for the stock price, had ended. He said ranking shareholders can skew a company’s long-term purpose, and argued that companies should address the roots of social inequalities rather than rely only on charitable donations.
Another thing that I think of, when you bring up Spotify, is how happy I am that my era of being a public company CEO—and my responsibility to sell our stock price—is no longer. While I enjoyed running a public company in many ways, it is also a reality that the responsibilities of stack-ranking the shareholders can skew a company’s long-term purposes.
I’m a really deep student of American corporations and the victory of Milton Friedman’s view on shareholders. To his credit, he did say that caring for your employees was part of your fundamental responsibility. But what also basically said was that the private sector had no business trying to impact society, let alone redress societal inequalities. That was not something I ever bought into.
On January 19, 2017, the European Commission welcomed an agreement ending all exclusivity obligations between Amazon subsidiary Audible and Apple concerning audiobook supply and distribution. The Commission said the step was likely to improve competition in downloadable audiobook distribution in Europe.
The European Commission welcomes an agreement to end all exclusivity obligations concerning audiobook supply and distribution between Amazon's subsidiary Audible and Apple. This step is likely to improve competition in downloadable audiobook distribution in Europe.
A February 2023 TIME report said Audible was focusing on exclusive, prestigious content rather than pursuing the widest audience. Founder Don Katz said he preferred Audible Originals’ selection of professional storytelling to millions of personalized options. The report cited Michelle Obama’s forthcoming Audible podcast as an example.
Rather than try to chase the widest possible audience, Audible—which was acquired by Amazon for $300 million in 2008 and now reaches millions of listeners around the world—is doubling down on creating exclusive, prestigious content that users won’t be able to get anywhere else. Case in point: this week, Michelle Obama announced that she will adapt her book The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, into a podcast that will debut on Audible on March 7, with guests like Oprah Winfrey and Conan O’Brien.
On January 17, 2024, New America announced that Don Katz, Audible’s founder and former CEO, had joined its board of directors alongside author Patrick Radden Keefe. Katz said he looked forward to contributing to the organization’s work on societal challenges, including technology’s effects on democracy and security.
“I am thrilled to work with an organization addressing status-quo thinking across significant societal challenges I have focused on as a writer and business builder for decades. New America applies distinctive creative expertise to current and unsurfaced solutions that address foreign policy, the many inequities born of racial disparity, and the impact of advancing technologies on democracy and security. I look forward to being a part of New America’s important mission,” Don Katz said.