Platform Equity as Market Leverage

Platforms sometimes take equity stakes in retailers in exchange for distribution, logistics and data access. Those equity‑for‑access deals create long‑dated revenue claims and interlocked contractual guarantees that can be wiped out or litigated when the partner enters bankruptcy, producing cross‑sector legal and market risk. — If platform equity becomes a common tool to secure marketplace privileges, regulators, bankruptcy courts and antitrust enforcers need new rules to govern disclosure, contingent claims, and how marketplace access is treated in insolvency.