antitrust news stories on Newser

Google Gets Europe's OK to Buy Motorola

Mark Russell — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:01:00 CST

Google's $12.5 billion takeover of Motorola Mobility Holdings, announced last August , finally cleared regulators in Europe and the United States yesterday, reports Reuters . But as Motorola owns so many patents that are vital to the telecommunications industry, regulators said they would monitor Google to ensure it continued to license...

AT&T: Forget T-Mobile Merger

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:33:05 CST

AT&T Inc. said today that it is ending its $39 billion bid to buy T-Mobile USA after facing fierce government objections. The cell phone giant said that the actions of the US government to block the deal do not change the challenges of the wireless phone industry, which it says...

FCC Moves to Block T-Mobile, AT&T Merger

Kevin Spak — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:49:23 CST

AT&T thought its muscular lobbying operation would ensure regulatory approval of its deal to buy T-Mobile , but it’s not working out that way. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski moved to block the merger yesterday, giving the government a second chance to break up the sale should an antitrust suit from the...

Rivals Eager for Google Antitrust Hearing

Kevin Spak — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:27:49 CDT

Google’s Senate antitrust hearing is today, and rivals Yelp, Nextag, and Expedia are ready to do some complaining. The three companies intend to tell lawmakers that Google is exploiting its search dominance by promoting its own services at the expense of theirs in its results, they tell the Wall Street...

AT&T 'Pretty Confident' It Can Save T-Mobile Deal

Kevin Spak — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:45:05 CDT

AT&T is dead set on getting its $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile past anti-trust regulators, and it’s developing a two-part plan to do so. While one of the telecom giant’s hands is preparing to battle the Justice Department in court, the other will be trying to strike a deal with...

Google Hires Army of Lobbyists, Also Eyes Hulu

John Johnson — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:57:04 CDT

Busy times for Google, even beyond its social networking push : Lobbyist blitz: The company is apparently taking a potential antitrust investigation by the FTC very seriously, reports the Hill : Google is hiring no fewer than 12 top lobbying firms to make its case to lawmakers. “We have a strong story...

States Putting Antitrust Screws to Google, Too

Kevin Spak — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:31:06 CDT

As if the looming federal probe wasn’t bad enough, Google is now facing antitrust investigations from a number of states. California, New York, and Ohio have begun inquiries into the possible anti-competitive threat posed by Google’s search dominance, jumping on a bandwagon Texas started last year, the Financial Times reports....

Google Faces FTC Antitrust Investigation

Matt Cantor — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:57:23 CDT

The Federal Trade Commission will send Google subpoenas this week as it begins an antitrust probe into the search king. Officials are investigating whether the firm has taken unfair advantage of its leading position in the tech landscape. It’s the weightiest US investigation the company has thus faced: While others...

Congress Should Force NFL to Play Ball

John Johnson — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 13:24:25 CDT

NFL owners and players can't seem to figure a way of their legal fight , raising the very real possibility that we'll have no season this year. This goes way beyond sports, writes former Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter in the New York Times . It would be a devastating economic hit to...