A PYMNTS Company

EU: Almunia committed to quick ruling on Facebook/WhatsApp

By  |  September 8, 2014

European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said over the weekend in an interview that the watchdog’s review of Facebook’s planned acquisition of mobile messing service WhatsApp will not likely take long.

”The final decision will not take a long time,” the competition chief said. “It’s not the most difficult merger that we have dealt with.”

The social media giant made waves when it agreed to acquire WhatsApp for $19 billion earlier this year. Some consumer advocates are concerned about privacy issues regarding the takeover, but Almunia said that the merge review will not consider privacy concerns as it is not part of the Commission’s jurisdiction.

According to reports, one of the EU’s privacy watchdog’s raised concerns over the deal in February regarding Facebook’s collection of data obtained by WhatsApp. Facebook has reportedly agreed to protect users’ privacy.

Full content: Bloomberg

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.