FTC demanding info from Apple & other big tech companies about past acquisitions
The Federal Trade Commission announced that it is launching a probe into past acquisitions made by Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Google, and Facebook, going back to 2010.
The FTC is moving forward with antitrust investigations against some of the largest tech companies in the U.S.
The agency is hoping to uncover information that was not reported to the antitrust agencies under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. All involved companies will bet required to provide information and documents on the terms, scope, structure, and purpose of transactions that took place between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019.
It isn't yet clear if any or all of Apple's acquisitions need to be re-examined.
The investigation is intended to help the FTC understand large technology firms' acquisition activity and gain insight into how the firms handle reporting transactions to antitrust agencies. They also are investigating whether or not the large companies are engaging in anti-competitive practices by buying out nascent or potential competitors.
"Digital technology companies are a big part of the economy and our daily lives," said FTC Chairman Joe Simons. "This initiative will enable the Commission to take a closer look at acquisitions in this important sector, and also to evaluate whether the federal agencies are getting adequate notice of transactions that might harm competition. This will help us continue to keep tech markets open and competitive. for the benefit of consumers."
Chairman Simons has said that he'd be open to the idea of breaking apart giant tech firms like Apple by undoing mergers, if it is determined large entities like Facebook are harming competition across the tech industry as a whole by being too dominant.
Apple has been under fire for anti-competitive practices in the past. Spotify has claimed that Apple gives Apple Music preferential treatment with Siri and Home Pod integration. They also allege that Apple's 30 percent cut of purchases on the app store -- such as a Spotify subscription -- make it hard for the company to turn a profit.
Tile met with the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee in January to raise concerns about big tech's ability to push smaller companies out of the market. The story parallels that of LunaDisplay and Duet Display, who claimed that Apple had "Sherlocked" them in order to develop its Sidecar feature.
The FTC is moving forward with antitrust investigations against some of the largest tech companies in the U.S.
The agency is hoping to uncover information that was not reported to the antitrust agencies under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. All involved companies will bet required to provide information and documents on the terms, scope, structure, and purpose of transactions that took place between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019.
It isn't yet clear if any or all of Apple's acquisitions need to be re-examined.
The investigation is intended to help the FTC understand large technology firms' acquisition activity and gain insight into how the firms handle reporting transactions to antitrust agencies. They also are investigating whether or not the large companies are engaging in anti-competitive practices by buying out nascent or potential competitors.
"Digital technology companies are a big part of the economy and our daily lives," said FTC Chairman Joe Simons. "This initiative will enable the Commission to take a closer look at acquisitions in this important sector, and also to evaluate whether the federal agencies are getting adequate notice of transactions that might harm competition. This will help us continue to keep tech markets open and competitive. for the benefit of consumers."
Chairman Simons has said that he'd be open to the idea of breaking apart giant tech firms like Apple by undoing mergers, if it is determined large entities like Facebook are harming competition across the tech industry as a whole by being too dominant.
Apple has been under fire for anti-competitive practices in the past. Spotify has claimed that Apple gives Apple Music preferential treatment with Siri and Home Pod integration. They also allege that Apple's 30 percent cut of purchases on the app store -- such as a Spotify subscription -- make it hard for the company to turn a profit.
Tile met with the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee in January to raise concerns about big tech's ability to push smaller companies out of the market. The story parallels that of LunaDisplay and Duet Display, who claimed that Apple had "Sherlocked" them in order to develop its Sidecar feature.
Comments
At the moment they don't want to look at something like Beats which already passed muster, but stuff like Xnor and InVisage and any of the other 50+ company purchases a tech like Apple makes each year but rarely acknowledges. The concerns have to do with how those buyouts and acqui-hires are impacting the marketplace and limiting the ability of smaller and/or and startup companies to compete with the big boys.
It should be a pretty revealing report when it's all put together and released, and it will get publically released IMHO.
EDIT: My guess is this is the result of an earlier hearing:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events-calendar/2018/10/ftc-hearing-3-competition-consumer-protection-21st-century
🤨 yeah? 🤨
Apple isn’t really in the same category as Facebook and Google with regards to acquisitions.
The main area Apple could be considered abusing their position is in the App Store. That’s more an area Apple should make concessions, rather than it be a separate entity.
The question is whether a startup that wants to be sold to a bigger fish means the act is “anti-competitive”. Not convinced.
you win the prize for hitting the nail on the head.
However for some of the other brands (particularly Google) this would be more complicated. Google was acquisition hungry for years and it didn't make a lot of sense, it might lead to the view that they were just buying competitors or shaking down smaller companies for their IP. (To some extent that might be the case, e.g. Motorola and Fitbit.)
EDIT: The Information made this observation:
"One scenario that is likely of most concern to the agency is when big companies shut down smaller ones that they have purchased simply to snuff out a potential competitor. That’s in contrast to startups acquired simply for their talent—what are called “acqui-hires”—or those that flourish into much bigger phenomena (think YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp).
Facebook, for example, has shuttered a number of apps that it acquired, though no company in its right mind would ever admit to doing so to kill competition. In one of those cases, Facebook acquired a polling app called TBH in 2017 and shut it down several months later. Shortly after the acquisition was announced, the technology blogger Ben Thompson argued that antitrust regulators should step up to examine its competitive effects and perhaps even block the deal.
The FTC on Tuesday said it is seeking “to learn more about how small firms perform after they are acquired by large technology firms.”
I need to learn to write mobile apps...
You haven't a clue about the 80+ acquisitions Apple has made this year that were never reported here at AI, and presumably that would be the tech company you know the most about. I haven't a clue about Alphabet company purchases either. They've both spent $Billions on these small company buyouts that no one outside of the principles is aware of.
You don't know who they were, what they did, the technology they used or what they invented. You don't know if the purpose of the takeover was for improving a current product, absorbing IP to prevent someone else from using it, whether that company or team could have grown into a potential competitor for something Apple was developing, or even what the status was after the purchase. You don't have the faintest idea why Apple wanted them, whether for a product or a technology or a patent or a particular person or to prevent them going to someone else. You've not a clue what the plan was, or what became of it all.
The FTC doesn't know either because there were no requirements to report it. Finding out is one of the goals of the inquiry. After that it can be decided if any particular action is needed or whether business should go on as is.
Facts first and not act on guesses, right?