Regulators demand info on past deals by Amazon/Apple/Facebook/Google/Microsoft

[Warlord]

The study comes as some have raised concerns about the tech giants buying up promising startups in order to avoid future competition.

The Federal Trade Commission is demanding information from Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft on their mergers over the past nine years — significantly increasing the pressure on the tech industry's biggest players amid growing antitrust scrutiny.

The agency said Tuesday that it issued the investigative subpoenas to the companies, seeking details on deals that fall below the threshold of normal federal antitrust reviews.

The information requests are part of a so-called 6(b) inquiry the FTC is conducting for a study into acquisitions of startups. The results of the probe would be published in a study by the agency, rather than law enforcement action.

“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,” FTC Chairman Joseph Simons said in a statement announcing the probe.

The study comes as some have raised concerns about the tech giants buying up promising startups in order to avoid future competition. Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, for example, has called for breaking up Facebook by undoing its past acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram.

The FTC is conducting a similar 6(b) inquiry into the privacy practices of internet service providers including AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and others. During the Obama administration, the agency conducted a study on patent-assertion entities.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/...amazon-apple-facebook-google-microsoft-113988

The real problem with these platforms is the censorship of conservative voices.

 

[timosman]

The real problem with these platforms is the censorship of conservative voices.

This is just a distraction. Dot-com boom 2.0 is upon us. Liberals are the biggest cheers because it means free money. Conservatives are like - this is not supposed to work.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

The study comes as some have raised concerns about the tech giants buying up promising startups in order to avoid future competition.

SOP.

 

[timosman]

SOP.

This is simply to keep the bubble afloat. Nobody gives a fuck about future competition. We spend a few $B once in while on a random unicorn so our entire stable of unicorns continues to look promising to the investors.

https://www.cbinsights.com/research-unicorn-companies

 

[Warlord]

This is simply to keep the bubble afloat. Nobody gives a $#@! about future competition. We spend a few $B once in while on a random unicorn so our entire stable of unicorns continues to look promising to the investors.

https://www.cbinsights.com/research-unicorn-companies

Translation: 'Your not paying enough campaign contributions so now we're going to threaten you'

The Federal mafia 101.

 

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/10/8044...-about-military-contract-awarded-to-microsoft

Amazon Wants Trump To Testify About Military Contract Awarded To Microsoft

Amazon wants President Trump and Defense Secretary Mark Esper to testify about a massive military tech contract that the company lost to Microsoft, according to court documents unsealed Monday.

Amazon has taken the Pentagon to court, alleging "unmistakable bias" on the government's part in awarding to rival Microsoft the $10 billion cloud-computing contract, known as JEDI.

The contract award process had been mired by months of delays, investigations and controversy — at first over allegations of cozy relationships between Amazon and the Pentagon, and later over Trump's public criticism of the company, its role in the JEDI bidding and its CEO Jeff Bezos. Bezos owns The Washington Post, whose news coverage Trump often criticizes.

Newly unsealed documents show Amazon Web Services, Amazon's cloud arm, is seeking to depose Trump "about conversations or other involvement he had regarding the JEDI bid process or efforts to harm Amazon or AWS." The request acknowledges that deposing a sitting president "presents unique circumstances."

Amazon is also requesting testimony from Esper, former Defense Secretary James Mattis, Defense Department Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy and other officials involved in the selecting of the contract winner, whose names were redacted.

The White House and the Justice Department declined to comment on Monday. A Defense Department representative did not immediate respond to NPR's inquiry. The Pentagon had previously said the contract review evaluated all bidders fairly and consistently with the stated criteria.

In a statement on Monday, AWS maintained its allegation that Trump used the military budget to pursue his own ends. "President Trump has repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to use his position as President and Commander in Chief to interfere with government functions — including federal procurements — to advance his personal agenda," the company said.

Amazon is challenging the Pentagon's award of JEDI, for Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The company had also sought to block Microsoft and the Pentagon from starting work on the contract while the litigation is ongoing, but the court has not yet ruled on that.

Amazon was stunned by its loss of the JEDI contract. Microsoft's cloud business Azure has been a distant second in size to AWS, which also previously won a cloud contract with the CIA. A former Pentagon official familiar with the JEDI deal previously told NPR that Microsoft's bid "hit the ball out of the park."

 

[oyarde]

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/10/8044...-about-military-contract-awarded-to-microsoft

I do not think anyone cares about amazons opinion on military contracts .

 

[timosman]

Translation: 'Your not paying enough campaign contributions so now we're going to threaten you'

The Federal mafia 101.

The funny thing is GOP doesn't seem to know how to play this game so all the cash from high tech is going to the DEMs. What a bunch of morons.