FTC Loses Antitrust Challenge to Facebook Parent Meta
Tech Judge denies agency’s request for injunction blocking Meta’s proposed acquisition of virtual-reality startup
Anti-Competition Issues
DOJ Sues Google, Seeking to Break Up Online Advertising Business – The Wall Street Journal
DOJ Sues Google, Seeking to Break Up Online Advertising Business The Wall Street Journal DOJ files second antitrust suit against Google, seeks to break up its ad business CNBC DOJ sues Google over its dominance in online advertising market CNN Google became an ad monopoly in broad daylight and you’re paying the price TechRadar Factbox: Biden administration continues Trump … Read more
FTC Probes Market Power of One of Country’s Biggest Anesthesia Providers
WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission is investigating one of the country’s largest anesthesiology providers, U.S. Anesthesia Partners, over whether it has amassed too much power in some regional markets through acquisitions, according to people familiar with the matter. USAP has 4,500 anesthesia providers in nine states, including Texas, Colorado and Florida. The company, founded in 2012 … Read more
Judge Rejects Antitrust Challenge to UnitedHealth Acquisition
WASHINGTON—A federal judge Monday ruled against a Justice Department antitrust challenge to UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s $13 billion acquisition of health-technology firm Change Healthcare Inc., rejecting government claims that the deal would unlawfully suppress competition and limit innovation in health-insurance markets. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled for the companies in an opinion that he kept … Read more
FTC sends a warning to Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other ‘gig-work’ companies
The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday that it plans to crack down on the exploitation of gig workers, whom the agency said are entitled to protection regardless of their worker classification. The commission adopted a policy statement that details issues gig workers face — including deceptive claims about their wages and hours, unfair contract terms … Read more
California Sues Amazon, Alleging Antitrust Violations Inflated Prices and Stifled Competition
Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office had filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court seeking to halt Amazon policies he said prevent merchants from offering lower prices through competitors’ websites. The suit is the result of an investigation that began in early 2020, Mr. Bonta said. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS How do you expect … Read more
Google Loses Most of Appeal of EU Android Decision
BRUSSELS— Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG -0.02% Google suffered legal blows on two continents this week, a significant setback in the company’s efforts to fight allegations that it is abusing its dominance in digital advertising and on mobile phones. The EU’s General Court in Luxembourg on Wednesday largely upheld a 2018 decision by the EU competition regulator … Read more
Biden finalized his plan to rein in Big Tech. Big Tech wasn’t invited.
President Joe Biden’s administration issued a checklist of actions needed to rein in Big Tech on Thursday, after a roundtable “listening session” on issues within the technology industry. But administration officials were not “listening” to the companies that are the targets of many of the desired actions — Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +2.09% GOOG, … Read more
Illumina’s Deal to Buy Cancer-Test Developer Is Blocked by the EU
BRUSSELS—The European Union blocked Illumina Inc.’s ILMN 2.52% acquisition of cancer-test developer Grail Inc., putting a $7.1 billion merger into jeopardy just days after a U.S. administrative law judge allowed it to go forward. The fate of the acquisition has emerged as an early test case for regulators in the U.S. and EU who have … Read more
FTC Investigating Amazon Deal to Buy One Medical Network of Health Clinics
WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Amazon.com Inc.’s AMZN -0.24% $3.9 billion deal to buy 1Life Healthcare Inc., ONEM 0.35% which operates One Medical primary care clinics in 25 U.S. markets. 1Life, which went public in 2020, disclosed the investigation in a securities filing. The disclosure says One Medical and Amazon AMZN -0.24% each received … Read more