On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) presented its data on small acquisitions by five big technology companies.<\/p>\n\n\n
After a study that began during the Trump administration, the FTC concluded that Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft collectively had 616 acquisitions between 2010 and 2019 that exceeded $1 million, but were still relatively small to attract attention of antitrust agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, a Democrat, said that considering stand-alone deals was not enough. “I think of serial acquisitions as a Pac-Man strategy. Each individual merger viewed independently may not seem to have significant impact. But the collective impact of hundreds of smaller acquisitions can lead to monopolistic behavior,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commissioner Christine Wilson, a Republican, wanted to initiate a similar study on healthcare mergers.<\/p>\n\n\n
The FTC very rarely tries to stop vertical deals but recently asked a judge to stop biotechnology company Illumina’s deal to buy Grail. The companies seek to market a blood test to diagnose dozens of types of cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n
The Justice Department released a statement saying it was examining vertical merger policies as well as policies on horizontal transactions or mergers of competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The five commissioners voted along party lines in support of a declaration of principle on a rule requiring consumers to be informed of any unauthorized use of health data and approved a procedure for accepting input on possible rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FTC sued Facebook in 2020, claiming the social media company violated antitrust law by asking a judge to void Facebook’s deals with the photo-sharing app Instagram and the messaging app WhatsApp, even though both are being reviewed by the agency.<\/p>\n\n\n