Following a lengthy consultation period, the European Commission published its draft guidelines for merger control last week. These guidelines will serve as the basis for reviewing major mergers in Europe and deciding whether to approve or block them. Our initial reaction: the draft is cause for concern and potentially lays the groundwork for greater market concentration in Europe.
We are part of the Digital Merger Watch (DMW) project. In this project, we track Big Tech’s mergers and acquisitions. Here is our latest update.
The European Commission is currently revising its merger guidelines. We are closely monitoring this process and are advocating for a strengthening of the guidelines. Only recently, we have been participating in workshops organised by the Commission.
Google intends to acquire the cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion. This would be the largest acquisition in Google’s history and another step toward strengthening Google’s market power. Together with partners, we have submitted a formal submission to the European Competition Authority, urging a thorough investigation of this merger.
The big tech companies are expanding their dominance inconspicuously through mergers and acquisitions. Most of these deals escape the scrutiny of the competition authorities, according to an analysis by the Dutch organization SOMO. This is a problem for innovation, diversity and fair competition. We need better merger control.
