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Microsoft dodges UK antitrust scrutiny over its Mistral AI stake
Microsoft won’t be facing antitrust scrutiny in the U.K. over its recent investment into French AI startup Mistral AI.
UK probes Amazon and Microsoft over AI partnerships with Mistral, Anthropic and Inflection
The UK is launching initial enquiries into Amazon and Microsoft over partnerships with AI companies Mistral, Anthropic, and Inflection.
UK confirms in-depth antitrust probe into Three and Vodafone’s planned $19B merger
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed that it’s launching a formal “phase 2” investigation into the planned merger between Vodafone and Three UK. The CMA says that…
UK launches antitrust probe into planned $19B Vodafone, Three merger
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching a formal probe into the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three UK. The news hardly comes as a surprise, given that…
Meta and Amazon settle UK antitrust probes over use of third-party data to benefit marketplaces
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today announced that it has accepted proposals from Facebook’s parent Meta and Amazon to limit how they use data gathered from their respective…
Why Microsoft had to relinquish Activision’s cloud-gaming rights outside Europe
Microsoft has finally done it — nearly two years after the Xbox-maker first revealed plans to acquire gaming giant Activision Blizzard in a mammoth $68.7 billion deal, it has managed…
It’s official: Microsoft closes $68.7B Activision Blizzard acquisition as UK approves restructured deal
After a prolonged antitrust tussle, Microsoft’s near-two-year attempt to buy gaming giant Activision is finally happening, after the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepted a restructured proposal that addresses…
UK readies in-depth investigation into Adobe’s $20B Figma acquisition
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally concluded that Adobe’s proposed $20 billion bid for digital design rival Figma could result in a “substantial lessening of competition” in…
Amazon’s $1.7B iRobot acquisition greenlighted by UK antitrust regulator
The U.K.’s antitrust regulator has given the go-ahead to Amazon’s proposed billion-dollar iRobot acquisition, concluding that the deal “would not lead to competition concerns in the U.K.” Amazon first revealed…
To avert more UK antitrust woes, Meta to limit how it uses ad data to boost Facebook Marketplace
Facebook’s parent Meta has given key assurances to U.K. antitrust regulators as it looks to counter concerns over how it uses advertising data to benefit its own products. The news…
UK greenlights $7.3B merger between satellite rivals Viasat and Inmarsat
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially greenlighted the proposed $7.3 billion merger between Viasat and Inmarsat. London-based Inmarsat and its U.S. rival Viasat offer various satellite services…
UK blocks Microsoft’s planned $68.7B Activision bid, saying it would ‘substantially weaken competition’
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed that it intends to block Microsoft’s megabucks Activision acquisition, concluding that such a merger would create “…the most powerful operator” in…
UK competition authority moves forward with in-depth probe of $61B Broadcom-VMware deal
After putting Broadcom on notice last week that it was concerned that the proposed $61 billion Broadcom-VMware deal could adversely affect competition in the server market, the U.K. Competition and…
UK closes ‘Jedi Blue’ antitrust collusion case against Google and Meta
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) won’t be pursuing an anticompetition collusion case against Google and Facebook’s parent Meta, following a similar decision made by its counterparts in the…
Meta gets final order to sell Giphy from UK antitrust watchdog
Bye-bye: Meta has again been ordered by the U.K.’s competition watchdog to sell animated GIF platform Giphy. And this time it’s final. The decision follows a ‘stay of execution’ for…
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has formally cleared the proposed $8.1 billion merger between cybersecurity giants NortonLifeLock and Avast, a month after provisionally greenlighting the deal. The merger…
UK antitrust authority sees no competition concerns in music-streaming industry
Some nine months after the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) revealed it was carrying out a market study into music-streaming services, the government department has revealed it believes there…
UK finally opens antitrust probe of Google’s role in the adtech stack
The U.K.’s competition watchdog has just announced another investigation into Google over potential antitrust abuses around adtech. This is the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) second probe of Google’s adtech…
UK’s Big Tech regulator ‘to boost switching, cut killer acquisitions’
Just over a year after launching a dedicated unit focused on digital markets inside the national competition watchdog, the UK government has put some meat on the bones of what…
UK targets fake reviews and killer acquisitions in reform package
The UK has announced a bundle of consumer protection and competition reforms which could see platforms that fail to tackle fake reviews fined up to 10% of their global annual…
UK’s CMA accepts Google’s post-cookie pledges, will ‘closely monitor’ Privacy Sandbox plan
The U.K.’s competition authority has accepted commitments from Google over how it develops the post-cookie future of interest-based ad targeting online under its self-styled “Privacy Sandbox” proposal. In an announcement…
Apple and Google’s mobile duopoly likely to face UK antitrust action
The U.K.’s antitrust watchdog has given the clearest signal yet that interventions under an upcoming reform of the country’s competition rules will target tech giants Apple and Google — including…
The $19.7 billion acquisition of speech-to-text specialist Nuance by Microsoft, announced earlier this year, has attracted the attention of the U.K.’s active antitrust watchdog — which said today it’s taking…
Google agrees with UK’s CMA to deeper oversight of Privacy Sandbox
As part of an ongoing antitrust investigation into Google’s Privacy Sandbox by the UK’s competition regulator, the adtech giant has agreed to an expanded set of commitments related to oversight…
UK’s antitrust regulator to probe music streaming market
The UK’s antitrust watchdog will take a close look at the music streaming market. Today the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it will be conducting a market study…
Amazon and Google face UK CMA probe over fake reviews
The UK’s competition watchdog, the CMA, has opened another investigation into Big Tech — this one targeted at Amazon and Google over how well they handle (or, well, don’t) fake…
UK’s CMA opens market study into Apple, Google’s mobile ‘duopoly’
The U.K.’s competition watchdog will take a deep dive look into Apple and Google’s dominance of the mobile ecosystem, it said today — announcing a market study which will examine…
Facebook’s use of ad data triggers antitrust probes in UK and EU
Facebook is facing a fresh pair of antitrust probes in Europe. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the EU’s Competition Commission both announced formal investigations into the social…
The UK’s plan to tackle Big Tech won’t be one-size fits all
The director of a new unit set up this month inside the UK’s competition watchdog — with a dedicated focus on tech giants’ impacts on digital markets — has been…
The U.K. government has intervened to trigger public interest scrutiny of chipmaker’s Nvidia’s plan to buy Arm Holdings. The secretary of state for digital issues, Oliver Dowden, said today that…
