COMPETITION – UNITED STATES – REGULATION

Antitrust woes mount for tech giants

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Original article by Cecilia Kang, David Streitfeld, Annie Karni
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 5-Jun-19

US lawmakers will investigate major digital platforms for possible breaches of anti-trust laws. The House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee will undertake hearings on the issue over the next 18 months, which could lead to a formal investigation by regulators. The Federal Trade Commission would be given the task of investigating possible anti-competitive behaviour by Facebook and Amazon, while Google and Apple would be subject to scrutiny by the Department of Justice. The investigation could potentially result in changes to anti-trust laws.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, APPLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE

Disney’s Fox bid wins US approval

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Original article by Edmund Lee, Cecilia Kang
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 29-Jun-18

Walt Disney’s proposed $US71bn deal to acquire the bulk of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets has been cleared by the US Justice Department, only six months after it was initially proposed. However, the Justice Department has ruled that ESPN owner Disney must divest Fox’s regional sports to satisfy competition concerns. Jefferies media analyst John Janedis says the Fox board will probably be obliged to see if rival suitor Comcast makes a revised bid, but he notes that any such offer would take at least six months to receive approval from the DoJ.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE, ESPN INCORPORATED, JEFFERIES AND COMPANY, HULU LLC, AT&T CORPORATION, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED, CNN, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, SKY PLC, STAR INDIA, MARVEL ENTERPRISES, LUCASFILM, PIXAR, FOX NEWS CHANNEL