FTC "studies" acquisitions of five technology giants to analyze antitrust issues

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been paying close attention to possible violations of competition laws by large companies, but this Tuesday announced the realization of a study, which affects not one, but five technological giants. Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook and Microsoft will now have to provide information and documents on each transaction between 2010 and 2019.

In the statement available on its official website, the FTC guarantees that this order will help the regulatory body to "better understand the acquisition activities of large companies", namely how they report their transactions to federal antitrust agencies. On the other hand, it is intended to verify whether the technological giants are making acquisitions that violate competition laws.

Considering that technological companies represent a large share in the economy sector, the chairman of the FTC believes that this study will allow the commission to have a better perspective on the acquisitions made. Carry out an assessment of the work of federal agencies, whether or not they know how to identify and deal with transactions that may harm competition, another objective, adds Simons.

In practice, "special orders", as the FTC designates them, require each company to identify acquisitions that have not been reported to the United States regulatory agency and the United States Department of Justice. In addition, technological giants are required to provide information and documents on corporate acquisition strategies, as well as price developments and the development of post-acquisition products, including how the acquired assets were integrated and how the new data were treated.