antitrust

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Largest Antitrust Trial in US in 25 Years Is About to Kick Off

Justice Department takes on Google over its search engine dominance

(Newser) - Google will confront a threat to its dominant search engine beginning Tuesday when federal regulators launch an attempt to dismantle its internet empire in the biggest US antitrust trial in a quarter century. Over the next 10 weeks, federal lawyers and state attorneys general will try to prove Google rigged...

Judge Rejects FTC Move to Halt $69B Microsoft-Activision Deal

With clock ticking to get the deal closed, court hands Microsoft a major victory

(Newser) - A federal judge has handed Microsoft a major victory by declining to block its looming $69 billion takeover of video game company Activision Blizzard. US District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley said in a ruling that the Federal Trade Commission "has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its...

Meta Unloads Giphy, Is Out Hundreds of Millions

Facebook parent sells GIF search engine to Shutterstock for $53M after UK regulators' decision

(Newser) - In 2020, Meta scooped up Giphy, a GIF search engine used by Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms, for $400 million. On Tuesday, Facebook's parent company announced it had sold the product to stock image service Shutterstock for a mere $53 million—effectively taking a nearly $350 million loss....

UK Just Nixed the Biggest Tech Deal in History

Microsoft's $69B attempt to buy video game maker Activision scuttled over fears of stifling competition

(Newser) - British regulators have blocked Microsoft's $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard over worries that it would stifle competition in the cloud gaming market. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority said in its final report Wednesday that "the only effective remedy" to the significant...

Feds, States File 'Huge' Lawsuit Against Google

Antitrust lawsuit targets dominance in digital advertising

(Newser) - The Justice Department and several states sued Google on Tuesday, alleging that its dominance in digital advertising harms competition. The government alleges that Google’s plan to assert dominance has been to "neutralize or eliminate" rivals through acquisitions and to force advertisers to use its products by making it...

Tennessee AG Isn't Shaking Off Ticketmaster's Swift Debacle

Jonathan Skrmetti looking into consumer complaints on Ticketmaster sales for singer's tour

(Newser) - The Ticketmaster fumble on Tuesday during sales for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour wasn't just an annoyance for fans—it was a bungle that's caught the attention of Tennessee's attorney general. At a Wednesday video news conference, AG Jonathan Skrmetti announced that, due to multiple consumer complaints...

Stephen King Will Be Star Witness in Publishing Antitrust Trial

Government is trying to block merger of two of publishing's 'Big Five'

(Newser) - The government and publishing titan Penguin Random House exchanged opening salvos in a federal antitrust trial Monday as the US seeks to block the biggest US book publisher from absorbing rival Simon & Schuster. The case comes as a key test of the Biden administration’s antitrust policy, the AP...

FTC Is Investigating McFlurry Machines

Company accuses manufacturer of 'multimillion-dollar repair racket'

(Newser) - McDonald's notoriously finicky McFlurry machines may be in violation of antitrust law, Gizmodo reports, based on a new investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. The agency is investigating why the machines so often fail amid a legal fight between the manufacturer, which has a monopoly on repairs, and a...

Biden Executive Order Takes On Big Tech, Net Neutrality

Initiatives include directives around data collection and health care

(Newser) - President Biden signed a sweeping executive order Friday aimed at reining in some tech company practices and clearing a path for reforms in health care, too. The Promoting Competition in the American Economy executive order that he signed Friday has 72 initiatives, CNET reports. Some seem deceptively simple, like a...

Judge Tosses Government Cases Against Facebook

He ruled that FTC had failed to prove social media site has monopoly power

(Newser) - Facebook has emerged victorious—for now—in a Goliath vs. Goliath legal battle. A federal judge has struck down antitrust lawsuits brought against the social media giant by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of 46 state attorneys general, NBC reports. US District Judge James E. Boasberg of the...

Regulators Might Block Amazon's MGM Buy
Regulators Might Block
Amazon's MGM Buy
THE RUNDOWN
May 26, 2021 2:45 PM CDT

Regulators Might Block Amazon's MGM Buy

Company's size could make acquisition a 'red flag' for antitrust officials

(Newser) - Amazon announced Wednesday that it has reached an $8.45 billion deal to acquire MGM Studios—but before the online giant can declare itself the owner of the James Bond franchise and the rest of MGM's enormous library, antitrust regulators will need to give the deal the green light....

App Store Trial Could Reshape Mobile Market

Apple v. Epic Games had a chaotic start Monday

(Newser) - A court battle that could reshape the market for apps on mobile devices got underway Monday—and the Epic Games v. Apple trial had a chaotic start. The dispute began when Apple kicked Epic's "Fortnite" game off the App Store . A court conference call allowed callers to listen...

Regulators Are Cracking Down on 'China's Amazon'

'A concern would be that market power may potentially morph into political power'

(Newser) - The Chinese government is extremely wary of anything that could pose a challenge to one-party rule—including the growing power of tech giants. Regulators announced Thursday they're cracking down on Alibaba, an e-commerce giant known as "China's Amazon," and its financial services sister company Ant, formerly...

46 State Attorneys General Sue to Break Up Facebook

Social media giant accused of using its dominance to crush the competition

(Newser) - When it comes to taking on Facebook, bipartisanship is alive and well. Attorneys general from 46 states, along with Guam and Washington, DC, filed an antitrust against the social media giant Wednesday, accusing it of using its dominance to crush competition, NPR reports. The lawsuit is being led by New...

Online Giant Faces EU Antitrust Charges

Regulators say Amazon uses other companies' data against them

(Newser) - European Union regulators filed antitrust charges Tuesday against Amazon, accusing the e-commerce giant of using its access to data from companies that sell products on its platform to gain an unfair advantage over them. The charges, filed two years after the bloc's antitrust enforcer began looking into the company,...

US Going After Google in Landmark Case

Justice Department to file an antitrust suit, and implications could be far-flung in tech

(Newser) - The Justice Department is expected to file a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that Google has been abusing its online dominance in online search to stifle competition and harm consumers, per the AP . The Washington Post also has the story, saying it "could have vast implications not only for Google but...

'Emperors of the New Economy' Grilled at Antitrust Hearing

'Simply put, they have too much power'

(Newser) - The CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google were sworn in remotely Wednesday for a historic antitrust hearing before House lawmakers. Rep. David Cicilline, chairman of the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, used his opening statement to accuse the tech giants of damaging the economy through excessive dominance, the New York ...

Big Tech CEOs Head to Congress for Historic Hearing

Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google on the defense over rising power

(Newser) - Chief executives of Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon are set to testify remotely before Congress on Wednesday as part of a hearing focusing on the size and power of the world's leading tech companies, following a yearlong investigation by the House judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg...

House Panel Demands Bezos Himself Come Testify

Judiciary Committee investigating whether Amazon is cheating its own sellers

(Newser) - A recent Wall Street Journal investigation discovered Amazon.com workers had used proprietary data from independent sellers on the site to boost its own competing products, and that probe has now spurred a call to Jeff Bezos himself to appear on Capitol Hill. The Journal reports that the company's...

Nearly Every US State Is Involved in New Google Probe

Antitrust scrutiny of the tech giant is increasing

(Newser) - Fifty US states and territories, led by Texas, on Monday announced an investigation into Google's "potential monopolistic behavior." The announcement closely followed one from a separate group of states Friday that disclosed an investigation into Facebook's market dominance. The two probes widen the antitrust scrutiny of...

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