Page 3 - Antitrust Regulators News Today

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Lufthansa's bid for a minority stake in ITA Airways could reduce competition in flights to and from Italy, EU antitrust regulators warned on Tuesday, ramping up pressure on the German carrier to offer stronger remedies. Lufthansa wants to acquire a 41% stake in the state-owned Italian carrier for 325 million euros ($353 million) as part of a capital increase. The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation, saying the deal could reduce competition in passenger...

Microsofts search engine Bing, brower Edge and advertising services are likely to be out of the purview of Europes Digital Markets Act (DMA), Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Microsoft's tie-up with the ChatGPT maker has raised antitrust scrutiny after the U.S. software giant committed to invest over $10 billion into OpenAI last year. Earlier this month, EU antitrust regulators flagged that Microsoft's investment in OpenAI might be reviewable under European Union merger rules, after a similar warning was placed by Britain's antitrust regulator in December.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -British Airways owner IAG expects EU antitrust regulators to open a full-scale investigation into its plan to buy Spain's Air Europa and will offer remedies to address their concerns, IAG's chief executive said on Tuesday. The deal is part of a wave of consolidation in the airline sector, with Germany's Lufthansa seeking to buy a minority stake in Italy's state-owned ITA Airways, and Korean Air looking to buy Asiana. EU regulators have recently taken a t...

Amazon will not offer concessions to E.U. regulators to clear its acquisition of iRobot.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Amazon has not offered remedies to address concerns of EU antitrust regulators over its $1.4 billion acquisition of robot vacuum maker iRobot, according to an update on the European Commission website. The European Commission's competition officials in November sent a warning to the company that the deal could restrict competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners, a sign that they wanted remedies from Amazon.

US antitrust officials are seeking additional information related to ExxonMobil's megadeal to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources for about $60 billion, according to a securities filing Tuesday.The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lodged a second request for "additional information and documentary materials" with both companies on Monday, Pioneer said in the filing.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) said it would investigate whether Google violated Japans Antimonopoly Act, including by returning part of its revenues to Android smartphone makers on the condition that they not install rival search engines.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Edwards Lifesciences was raided by EU antitrust regulators at one of its facilities in an EU country a week ago, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The European Commission on Sept. 19 said it raided a cardiovascular medical device company in an EU country on concerns that it may have abused its market power in breach of the bloc's antitrust rules. Edwards Lifesciences, which says it is a global leader in making medical products for ...

The European Commission, which acts as the competition watchdog in the 27-country European Union, said Bookings remedies were not sufficient to address its concerns.