Europe’s top competition authority will look into smaller acquisitions made by big technology giants after a “shopping spree” in recent years by American firms, as regulators in the region look to ramp up pressure on major US players.
According to CNBC, the continent has been a hot bed of technology acquisitions by major US firms over the last decade, particularly in the area of artificial intelligence.
High-profile purchases like the US$8.5 billion Microsoft paid for Skype in 2011 or the US$19 billion Facebook bought WhatsApp for in 2014 often make the headlines, but there are dozens of other smaller acquisitions that have happened.
Last year for example, Apple bought Spectral Edge for an undisclosed sum. It’s a UK-based start-up working on photography technology. Twitter meanwhile acquired Fabula AI, another UK-based artificial intelligence firm. There are many more examples like this involving other technology giants such as Alphabet and Facebook.
These smaller acquisitions haven’t warranted much attention from the European Union’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager, though that could change.
“What we will try to do is to find ways to make sure that we see these acquisitions because sometimes these businesses are quite small, and maybe the sums, the turnover will not meet our thresholds,” Vestager told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro in an interview on Tuesday, February 18.
“What we would like to see (is) if that would … make an entrenched position even more entrenched. So we are developing methods to make sure that we actually see these acquisitions, to make sure that it is pro-competition, it is pro-innovation, and not the opposite,” she added.
Vestager did not expand on what these “methods” would be.
The EU’s competition commissioner said big tech firms have gone on a “shopping spree” in Europe, calling it a “positive.”
“One could see that as a kind of distributed innovation that happens here, but then being bought and integrated in giant companies. And that of course is … positive to see that the ecosystem works,” Vestager told CNBC.
Full Content: CNBC
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
Walmex Awaits Antitrust Ruling as Mexican Regulator Probes Alleged Practices
Oct 8, 2024 by
CPI
Crypto.com Sues SEC, Alleging Regulatory Overreach in Crypto Industry
Oct 8, 2024 by
CPI
Elite US Universities Face New Antitrust Suit Over Financial Aid Practices
Oct 8, 2024 by
CPI
Kirkland & Ellis Strengthens Antitrust Practice with New Partner from FTC
Oct 8, 2024 by
CPI
TikTok Hit with Lawsuits from 13 US States and DC
Oct 8, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Refusal to Deal
Sep 27, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust’s Refusal-to-Deal Doctrine: The Emperor Has No Clothes
Sep 27, 2024 by
Erik Hovenkamp
Why All Antitrust Claims are Refusal to Deal Claims and What that Means for Policy
Sep 27, 2024 by
Ramsi Woodcock
The Aspen Misadventure
Sep 27, 2024 by
Roger Blair & Holly P. Stidham
Refusal to Deal in Antitrust Law: Evolving Jurisprudence and Business Justifications in the Align Technology Case
Sep 27, 2024 by
Timothy Hsieh