Facebook’s stealth M&A puts focus on deals under antitrust radar


Facebook’s acquisition strategy was targeted Thursday in a new antitrust complaint filed by the US Federal Trade Commission, which said the company has illegally maintained a monopoly in social media by buying companies it sees as competitive threats. — AP

Last year, Facebook Inc did something US technology giants have done countless times before: It bought a smaller company and closed the deal without notifying competition regulators.

But this transaction – the US$400mil (RM1.69bil) acquisition of image library Giphy Inc – was particularly bold. At the time, Facebook was under investigation by antitrust enforcers for what the government says was an illegal practice of buying companies in order to eliminate them as potential threats to its monopoly power.

Subscribe now and receive FREE sooka plan for 1 month.
T&C applies.

Monthly Plan

RM13.90/month

Annual Plan

RM12.33/month

Billed as RM148.00/year

1 month

Free Trial

For new subscribers only


Cancel anytime. No ads. Auto-renewal. Unlimited access to the web and app. Personalised features. Members rewards.
Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!
   

Next In Tech News

World's first wooden satellite, developed in Japan, heads to space
This humanoid robot can now operate with full autonomy
Scientists use AI to help track penguins in Antarctica
Windows 10 users will soon have to pay to keep getting security updates
Musk and X are epicenter of US election misinformation, experts say
OpenAI in talks with California to become for-profit company, Bloomberg News reports
Meta to extend ban on new political ads after U.S. election
Crypto firms including Robinhood, Kraken launch global stablecoin network
Chipmaker NXP forecasts quarterly revenue below estimates on macroeconomic concerns
Exclusive-Silver Lake, Bain prepare to bid for multi-billion stake in Intel's Altera unit, sources say

Others Also Read