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☆ Justice Department's antitrust division forms task force on health care monopolies and collusion
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailJustice Department's antitrust division forms task force on health care monopolies and collusionCNBC's Eamon Javers joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss the latest annoucement from Justice Department's antitrust division.

Persons: Eamon Javers

☆ Why a giant health insurer merger is probably destined to fail
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The giant health insurers Cigna and Humana are reportedly considering a merger. While they offer different kinds of health insurance, the deal is likely to face antitrust scrutiny. Still, Cigna and Humana did toy with a deal way back in 2014 before they pursued deals with other partners. Later, to sidestep antitrust scrutiny, health insurers eyed mergers with other pieces of the healthcare system outside of insurance. Cigna and Humana would face a more skeptical Justice DepartmentAny deal between health insurers the size of Cigna and Humana would have to get past the Justice Department's antitrust enforcers.

Persons: Biden, —, Justice that's, BofA, David Balto, Cigna, That's, Balto, Barak Richman, there's, Matthew Cantor, Constantine Cannon, divestitures aren't, Molina wouldn't, Cantor Organizations: Humana, Service, Reuters, Bloomberg, Street, Department, Justice, Cigna, UnitedHealth Group, Equity, Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, Express, CVS Health, Aetna, Kindred, Biden Administration, FTC, Duke University Locations: Cigna, Aetna, Delaware

(Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday confirmed that Google pays Apple 36% of Safari search revenue, under the terms of a default search agreement that is core to the Justice Department's antitrust claims. Pichai was testifying in a separate lawsuit filed against Google by Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite. The Epic attorney then alleged that Google pays Samsung, Android's largest hardware partner, less than half of what it pays to Apple. Google's TAC costs include all of Google's payments to companies like Apple and Samsung to place its search engine in front of users. Apple, Google and Samsung did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on Pichai's testimony.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Mandel NGAN, MANDEL NGAN, Pichai, Google's, Kevin Murphy, Murphy, Connolly, John Schmidtlein, Leswing Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, Getty, Google, Apple, Epic Games, Washington , D.C, Samsung, Google's TAC, University of Chicago, Williams, Department, D.C Locations: Washington ,, AFP, Virginia, Washington

☆ Google paid $26 bln to be default search engine in 2021 - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A sign is pictured outside a Google office near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, U.S., May 8, 2019. The amount of payments Google made for the default status has more than tripled since 2014, according to senior executive Prabhakar Raghavan who is responsible for both search and advertising, the report added. Google's revenue from search advertising came in at $146.4 billion in 2021, while the payments for the default setting were its biggest cost, Raghavan was mentioned as saying in the Bloomberg report. The company has argued the revenue share agreements are legal and that it has invested to keep its search and advertising businesses competitive. Google had objected to revealing the numbers, saying they would harm the company's ability to negotiate contracts in the future.

Persons: Paresh Dave, Prabhakar Raghavan, Raghavan, Judge Amit Mehta, Jaspreet Singh, Shailesh Organizations: REUTERS, Google, Justice, Bloomberg, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Mountain View , California, U.S, Bengaluru

☆ It's official: 2023 is the year of Microsoft's glow-up
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-14 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Its big bet on AI appears to be paying off while blockbuster deals are getting greenlit. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementAdvertisementIt's a history that is firmly behind the company: 2023 looks set to be the year Microsoft completes its glow-up. But by and large, 2023 has been a remarkable year for Microsoft.

Persons: —, Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, Nadella, Bing Organizations: Microsoft, Service, Apple, Google, The, Activision Blizzard, Markets Authority, Sky News, IRS, Treasury Locations: Ballmer

☆ Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella gets honest about Bing's chances against Google
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, said Google's dominance of online search is hurting Bing, WSJ reported. Bing is struggling to compete with Google, even with its new AI developments, Nadella said. AdvertisementAdvertisementEven Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, may not think the company's search engine Bing has a chance against Google. "You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth, and you search on Google," Nadella told the Justice Department. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe result for Microsoft, Nadella said, is a "vicious cycle" — and Bing can't keep up.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Bing, Nadella, —, Google's, Sundar Pichai, Bard, Daniel Tunkelang Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Service, US Department, Street Journal, Apple, Justice Department, DOJ, Bing Locations: Washington, OpenAI, —

[1/2] The Microsoft logo is seen at the Microsoft store in New York City, July 28, 2015. REBUFFED BY APPLENadella also testified that Microsoft had sought to make its Bing search engine the default on Apple (AAPL.O) smartphones but was rebuffed. On laptops, most of which use Microsoft operating systems, Bing is the default search engine and has a market share below 20%, Nadella acknowledged. Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, long after the tech giant faced its own federal antitrust lawsuit. As Google, which was founded in 1998, became an industry leading search engine, the two became bitter rivals.

Persons: Mike Segar, Satya Nadella, Nadella, U.S . Justice Department's, APPLE Nadella, John Schmidtlein, Google's, Schmidtlein, Bing, Amit Mehta, Diane Bartz, Christina Fincher, Deepa Babington Organizations: Microsoft, REUTERS, Google, U.S . Justice, Apple, APPLE, Bing, Verizon, BlackBerry, Nokia, District of Columbia, Thomson Locations: New York City, WASHINGTON, U.S, Bing, OpenAI

WASHINGTON (AP) — Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Monday that unfair tactics used by Google led to its dominance as a search engine, tactics that in turn have thwarted his company's rival program, Bing. Nadella said Google's dominance was due to agreements that made it the default browser on smartphones and computers. The Justice Department's antitrust case against Google centers on deals the company struck with Apple and other device makers to use Google’s search engine. In an ironic twist, the constraints and distractions posed by the government’s antitrust case against Microsoft helped provide a springboard for Google to turn its search engine into a dominant force. By the time Microsoft started its scramble to develop its own search engine, Google had already become synonymous with looking things up on the internet.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Bing, Nadella, ”, Judge Amit Mehta, Steve Ballmer, Ballmer, hasn’t Organizations: WASHINGTON, Google, D.C, Department, Microsoft, U.S, Apple, Yahoo, Justice Department Locations: Washington

☆ Microsoft executive says Google deals kept Bing small
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The Microsoft logo is seen at the Microsoft store in New York City, July 28, 2015. Jonathan Tinter, a Microsoft vice president whose job has been to help Bing grow, testified at the trial of the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust case against Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google. The department accuses Google of paying $10 billion annually to wireless carriers and smartphone makers to ensure that Google search is the default on their devices. Tinter said that Bing has struggled to win default status on smartphones sold in the United States, and that this smaller scale translated into poorer quality search. "We were just big enough to play but not big enough to win," Tinter said.

Persons: Mike Segar, Bing, Jonathan Tinter, Tinter, Diane Bartz, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Microsoft, REUTERS, Rights, Google, U.S . Justice, Justice Department, Thomson Locations: New York City, United States, U.S

Yelp (YELP.N) and News/Media Alliance, which are not defendants in the litigation but are targets of Google's subpoenas, argue that law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison should be disqualified. A spokesperson for Paul Weiss said the "firm's representation of Google is appropriate in all respects." Yelp said it hired Paul Weiss in 2016 for counsel on antitrust issues. The Justice Department's antitrust head, Jonathan Kanter, was on the Paul Weiss team representing Yelp. New York-based Paul Weiss, which has about 1,000 lawyers globally, is also representing Amazon.com in various antitrust lawsuits.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Paul, Weiss, Garrison, Leonie Brinkema, Paul Weiss, Yelp, Jonathan Kanter, Charles Molster III, Brandon Kressin, Brinkema, Kanter, Mike Scarcella, Leigh Jones, Rami Ayyub Organizations: Google, Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Media Alliance, Yelp, U.S, Google LLC, Eastern, of, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, U.S, Rifkind, Wharton, New York, States, of Virginia

WASHINGTON (AP) — Google will confront a threat to its dominant search engine beginning Tuesday when federal regulators launch an attempt to dismantle its internet empire in the biggest U.S. antitrust trial in a quarter century. If he decides Google broke the law, another trial will decide what steps should be taken to rein in the Mountain View, California-based company. Political Cartoons View All 1152 ImagesGoogle counters that it faces a wide range of competition despite commanding about 90% of the internet search market. One possibility is that the company could be forced to stop paying Apple and other companies to make Google the default search engine on smartphones and computers. Distracted, the software giant struggled to adapt to the impact of internet search and smartphones.

Persons: Judge Amit Mehta, Sundar Pichai, Larry Page, Eddy, Trump, Microsoft's Bing, Andy Bechtolsheim, Page, Sergey Brin, Justice Department's, litigator Kenneth Dintzer — Organizations: WASHINGTON, Google, Inc, Apple, Justice Department, Firefox, Regulators, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Netscape, Justice Locations: , California, Silicon

DuckDuckGo, Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Yahoo are among a long list of Google competitors who will be watching the trial closely. “It would be difficult to overstate the importance of this case, particularly for monopolies and companies with significant market share,” antitrust lawyer Luke Hasskamp told Reuters. The lawsuit that goes to trial was brought by former President Donald Trump's Justice Department. read moreJudge Mehta will decide if Google has broken antitrust law in this first trial, and, if so, what should be done. Reporting by Diane Bartz; additional reporting by Mike Scarcella; editing by Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Toby Melville, DuckDuckGo, Kamyl Bazbaz, Luke Hasskamp, ”, Amit Mehta, Barack Obama, Donald Trump's, Joe Biden's, Mehta, Daniel McCuaig, Cohen Milstein, Diane Bartz, Mike Scarcella, Diane Craft Organizations: Google, REUTERS, U.S . Justice, Apple Inc, Mozilla, Microsoft, Yahoo, Big Tech, Facebook, Reuters, Apple, Twitter, Big, U.S, District of Columbia, Department, Android, U.S . Justice Department's Antitrust, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, WASHINGTON, United States, “

☆ Top regulators defend stricter merger guidelines, call 'hysteria' overblown
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Two of the nation's top corporate regulators on Thursday defended new guidelines on merger enforcement that have attracted pushback from the business community. "Which mergers go through and which ones do not can be hugely consequential for people's lives," Lina Khan, Federal Trade Commission chair said at an event hosted by the nonprofit American Economic Liberties Project. Khan was joined at the event by Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's antitrust division. "I think a lot of the hysteria is perhaps overblown, that we're not blocking every merger," Kanter said. The draft guidelines were released jointly by the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department's Antitrust Division in July.

Persons: Antitrust Jonathan Kanter, Lina Khan, Khan, Jonathan Kanter, Kanter, There's, Sen, Elizabeth Warren, Neil Bradley, Bradley Organizations: Antitrust, Federal Trade, American Bar Association Antitrust, Marriott Marquis, Washington , D.C, WASHINGTON —, Federal Trade Commission, American Economic Liberties, Justice, Justice Department's Antitrust, Albertsons, U.S . Chamber of Commerce, DOJ, FTC Locations: Washington ,

Google (GOOGL.O) had asked for summary judgment on all the government's claims in the case, which is to go to trial next month. Google said Friday it appreciated the court's "careful consideration and decision to dismiss claims regarding the design of Google Search" in the case brought by the state attorneys general. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong praised the decision to allow the states Google search antitrust suit to proceed to trial. Mehta noted Google LLC operates the largest U.S. internet general search engine whose "brand name has become so ubiquitous that dictionaries recognize it as a verb." He noted Google in 2020 had nearly 90% market share and advertisers spend over $80 billion annually alone to reach general search users.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Judge Amit Mehta, Google's, Mehta, William Tong, Tong, Trump, Judge Mehta, Diane Bartz, David Shepardson, Mark Porter, Diane Craft Organizations: Google, Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Justice Department, Big Tech, Microsoft Corp, Apple, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Verizon, Mozilla, Justice, Department, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, WASHINGTON, U.S, Washington, Connecticut, Virginia

☆ An epic fight over how real-estate agents get paid could transform the housing market forever
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Trying to find a buyer and sifting through offers sounds like a nightmare, so you hire a real-estate agent. The seller might no longer pay out both agents' commissions after the sale closes. Despite the potentially earthshaking consequences, most local real-estate agents — who, to be fair, have more pressing short-term concerns — have largely ignored the cases. "They not only have to pay a buyer's agent commission, but they can't negotiate that commission," Brobeck said of sellers. "It just doesn't make any sense for the seller to have to pay the buyer's agent," Brobeck told me.

Persons: —, Sitzer, that's, Max, Keller Williams, Sellers, Brokerages, Stephen Brobeck, Brobeck, Moehrl, Wager, Katie Johnson, you'll, Johnson, Buyers, Nicholas Economides, homebuyers, Trump, Everyone's, Rob Hahn, Steve Marcus, David Eisenstadt, Eisenstadt, Hahn, James Rodriguez Organizations: National Association of Realtors, NAR, Realtors, MLS, Consumer Federation of America, New York University, CFA, Realtor.com, REUTERS, Berkeley Research Group, Justice Department's Antitrust Locations: America, Missouri, Illinois, MLSs, Houston , Texas, Australia, Netherlands, United Kingdom

☆ Analysts see A.I. as a double-edged sword for 3 big tech stocks. We're more optimistic
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Alphabet The news: Analysts at UBS lowered their rating on Alphabet to neutral from buy but increased their price target to $132 per share from $123. Analysts expect the company's use of generative AI to be the "next leg to shares," and its use of AI tools should help the company "be viewed as an AI winner." Though Meta shares fell 3.5% to $278 each Monday. Reacceleration of revenue growth at Amazon's cloud unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS) into the fourth quarter of this year, should be a catalyst for the stock, analysts said. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

Persons: Eric Schmidt, Jim, We're, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, there's, Zuckerberg, Roth, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Sebastien Bozon Organizations: CNBC, Nasdaq, UBS, Google, Club, Microsoft, Facebook, Meta, Apple, Amazon Web Services, AFP, Getty Locations: Mulhouse

REUTERS/Brian SnyderWASHINGTON, June 20 (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division on Tuesday urged the government to update bank merger guidelines to reflect "current market realities," in a sign authorities are likely to cast a wider net in scrutinizing deals in the sector. “There are good reasons ... to question whether the 1995 guidance sufficiently reflects current market realities," he said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a think tank. "What we're saying is market realities have shifted, and when we apply the law, we have an obligation to ensure we are addressing the world as it exists today." President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2021 directing the Justice Department to work with bank regulators to update merger guidelines and heighten scrutiny of deals. In his remarks, Kanter said he was focused on the antitrust implications of any bank mergers, and that broader factors were best left to the primary bank regulators to consider.

Persons: Brian Snyder WASHINGTON, Jonathan Kanter, Biden, Kanter's, Kanter, hasn't, Joe Biden, Pete Schroeder, Deepa Babington Organizations: Bank, REUTERS, U.S . Justice, Brookings Institution, Department, Justice Department, Silicon Valley Bank, Thomson Locations: U.S, Wellesley , Massachusetts, Silicon

PGA TOUR logo is seen during the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines South on January 29, 2021 in San Diego, California. The Justice Department's Antitrust Division has informed the PGA Tour it will review the organization's proposed merger with Saudi-funded LIV Golf, a source told NBC News on Thursday. The Justice Department and LIV Golf declined to comment. The PGA Tour policy board will have to approve the agreement, Monahan told players in a memo. The PGA Tour revealed Tuesday that Monahan is currently recovering from an unspecified medical matter and is taking a leave of absence.

Persons: LIV, LIV Golf, Democratic Sens, Elizabeth Warren of, Ron Wyden, Sen, Richard Blumenthal, Conn, Wyden, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, LIV dangled, Donald Trump, Jay Monahan, Monahan Organizations: Farmers Insurance, Torrey Pines, Department's Antitrust, PGA, Saudi, NBC, Justice, LIV, CNBC, PGA Tour, Democratic, Oregon, DOJ, Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's Crown, Tour Locations: San Diego , California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, New Jersey

☆ Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet deliver slower cloud growth. Here's how AI could reverse that trend
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

As more and more businesses of all sizes continue their digital transformations, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet aim to be there to provide cloud solutions. However, those gains quickly evaporated as the post-earnings call got underway and Wall Street learned of slowing cloud growth in April , the first month of Q2. The company is now using AI as a tool to accelerate cloud growth and gain share. The Club's take: Microsoft demonstrated impressive cloud growth given the difficult macroeconomic backdrop for the quarter. We hope to see a reacceleration in cloud growth along with profitability momentum.

☆ Alphabet's quarter delivers but doesn't dazzle. The stock tells the story
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

As solid as this quarter was, a number of questions marks remain, including the costs and the economic backdrop. YouTube, though down to $6.7 billion, reported a smaller year-over-year decrease of 2.6%, than we saw in the prior quarter. It exited the quarter with $115 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities on the balance sheet. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

Companies Google Inc FollowAlphabet Inc FollowMarch 24 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday set a fast-paced schedule in the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit challenging Google LLC's digital advertising technology practices, moving the case along more quickly than either side had proposed. A Justice Department spokesperson and a representative from Google had no comment on Friday. The Justice Department and eight states filed the case in January, seeking to force Google to sell its ad manager suite, claiming that the company unlawfully curbed competition over advertising technology. The case is one of two Justice Department antitrust actions against Google. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, assigned to the digital advertising case, will preside at the January pretrial conference.

☆ U.S. rejects JetBlue, Spirit exemption request, citing lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Department on Friday denied an exemption request by JetBlue and Spirit to operate under common ownership, citing the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit filed this month seeking to block the deal. JetBlue's planned $3.8 billion acquisition of ultra-low cost carrier Spirit was announced last July. The Justice Department on March 7 challenged the deal, saying it would eliminate competition, lead to higher ticket prices, reduce passenger capacity and shrink consumer choices. The Transportation Department decision on the exemption "does not change that belief or our confidence that we will close the transaction, within our expected timeframe, following completion of the court case," JetBlue added. The Transportation Department said it found the exemption request was premature given the ongoing lawsuit.

☆ Google CEO tells employees 'things will go wrong' as the public tests its ChatGPT rival Bard
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google's CEO told employees "things will go wrong" with the company's AI chatbot, Bard. Google began rolling out staggered access to its ChatGPT rival on Tuesday. On Tuesday, Google began rolling out staggered public access to its much-anticipated ChatGPT rival, Bard. A spokesperson for Google told Insider that "Bard can sometimes give inaccurate or inappropriate information that doesn't represent Google's views." In the email to employees on Tuesday, Pichai said that public feedback is "critical" to improving Bard's functionality.

March 20 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google has denied intentionally destroying evidence in the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit over the company's search business, in a response to the government's bid for sanctions in federal court. The Justice Department last month alleged Google failed to preserve certain internal corporate "chat" communications. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on Monday. Mehta last year denied an earlier Justice Department bid for sanctions against Google over claims it was shielding too many documents from review. The case is United States v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No.

JetBlue will face "an uphill battle" as it fights the government," said Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute. "If I'm JetBlue, that's where I focus right now, developing that divestiture offer and lining up a buyer to 'litigate the fix,'" said Dryden. Whatever arguments JetBlue uses, a court fight could last six to eight months and cost tens of millions of dollars in attorney fees, legal experts said. Bill Baer, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division under former President Barack Obama, said the government's complaint "shows that there is meaningful competition between Spirit and JetBlue." "JetBlue brags about the 'JetBlue effect,' where they enter a market and fares tend to go down," he said.

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