FTC to Review Acquisition Activities of US Tech Giants

The Federal Trade Commission has said that it will conduct a 10-year review of the acquisition activities of five U.S. tech giants to better understand large tech company acquisition activity and determine "whether large tech companies are making potentially anticompetitive acquisitions of nascent or potential competitors." According to FTC Chairman Joe Simons, the initiative will enable the FTC to take a closer look at acquisitions in the sector and evaluate whether Federal agencies are getting adequate notice of transactions that might harm competition, MeriTalk reported Tuesday. He added that the effort will also allow FTC to continue to keep tech markets open and competitive for the benefit of consumers. The commission said the review will cover acquisitions since 2010 by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. FTC has already issued special orders requiring the said firms to provide information on any acquisition deals that were not previously reported to Federal antitrust agencies under the HSR Act. The five companies were also asked to provide information on “corporate acquisition strategies, voting and board appointment agreements, agreements to hire key personnel from other companies, and post-employment covenants not to compete."