FTC Plans to Examine Past Acquisitions by Big Tech Companies -- Update
February 11 2020 - 12:58PM
Dow Jones News
By John D. McKinnon
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Trade Commission ordered five big tech
companies to provide detailed information about their previous
acquisitions of small companies, expanding the agency's
investigation into possible antitrust concerns in digital
markets.
The FTC ordered the companies -- Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc.,
Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google owner Alphabet Inc. -- to
turn over information and documents relating to the scope,
structure and purpose of their takeovers of smaller companies
between 2010 and 2019.
The FTC orders don't have a specific enforcement purpose, but
they will help the agency "deepen its understanding of large
technology firms' acquisition activity," the agency said, including
"whether large tech companies are making potentially
anticompetitive acquisitions of nascent or potential competitors"
that are too small to require legal review by federal
authorities.
The five companies named by the FTC didn't immediately respond
to a request for comment.
(More to come)
Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 11, 2020 12:43 ET (17:43 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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