Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said the company “is on the right side of history” in the antitrust debates about whether big technology companies abuse user privacy and squash competition, reported Bloomberg.
While Congress and U.S. regulators have clashed with Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. over the companies’ business practices, Microsoft hasn’t received the same kind of scrutiny more than 20 years after it was sued by the U.S. Justice Department on antitrust issues.
The software company “makes sure” user privacy and internet safety are among its highest priorities for products “and then when it comes to competition, I mean you should go talk to the people who are investing a lot of capital and a lot of M&A competing with Microsoft and we welcome that,” Nadella said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
During the interview, the Microsoft CEO also spoke about cybersecurity threats, the future of remote work and the company’s rivalry with Alphabet’s Google.
Nadella said he is concerned about the wave of hacks in the past few months, which have included ransomware attacks that stopped business at a major pipeline company and food producer in the US.
“We have another real pandemic, which is a cyber” pandemic, he said. “The level of attacks for sure have increased, but the need for our response to be top notch has also increased. We just have to get better as an industry.”
Nadella also discussed tensions with Google, following the end of a five-year cease-fire between the two companies, which mutually agreed not to fuel legal lobbying efforts against one another. He said he “has a lot of respect” for Google and its leadership.
“We’re fighting the good fight to sort of compete against colossal lead in that space,” he said of digital advertising sales, which is led by Google and Facebook.
Nadella weighed in on Microsoft’s work-from-home policy, emphasizing the importance of flexibility and accommodating “changed expectations” in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. He spoke with Bloomberg Television after appearing at Microsoft’s Inspire conference for partners, where the company among its announcements unveiled a cloud-based version of Windows aimed at remote workers.
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
FTC to Approve Exxon’s $64 Billion Deal with Pioneer Resources, Excludes
May 1, 2024 by
CPI
UK Competition Watchdog Raises Alarm Over Nvidia’s ARM Takeover
May 1, 2024 by
CPI
Sen. Klobuchar Urges Regulators to Probe Collusion in Health Care Pricing
May 1, 2024 by
CPI
Multiple States Join Tennessee’s Antitrust Lawsuit Against NCAA Over NIL Rules
May 1, 2024 by
CPI
NY AG Joins Suit Challenging NCAA’s Restrictions on Student Athlete NIL Rights
May 1, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Economics of Criminal Antitrust
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Navigating Economic Expert Work in Criminal Antitrust Litigation
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
The Increased Importance of Economics in Cartel Cases
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
A Law and Economics Analysis of the Antitrust Treatment of Physician Collective Price Agreements
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Information Exchange In Criminal Antitrust Cases: How Economic Testimony Can Tip The Scales
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI