DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Amazon crushed it in e-commerce and cloud, forecast an impressive holiday quarter
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-31 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Amazon reported a much better-than-expected third quarter Thursday, with strong growth across online sales, its cloud business and advertising. Commentary Cloud unit Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue in the third quarter was essentially in line with the consensus forecast. Growth on a constant currency basis held steady from the second quarter at 19%, breaking a three-quarter streak of accelerating revenue growth. Quarterly results As for the rest of the company, Amazon delivered revenue beats across Online Stores (7% revenue growth), Subscription Services (11% revenue growth), and Advertising Services (19% revenue growth). Smaller businesses like Physical Stores (5% revenue growth) and Other (7% revenue growth) were better than expected too.

Persons: Andy Jassy, Jassy, it's, Kuiper, That's, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Nathan Stirk Organizations: Amazon, LSEG, Management, Walmart, Target, Microsoft, North America, International, Web Services, AWS, Subscription Services, Advertising Services, Seller Services, CNBC, Getty Locations: North, North America, United Kingdom, Germany, Sutton Coldfield, England

☆ A small robotics company says Elon Musk's 'Robovan' and 'Starship' are great names — except it got trademarks for them first
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-15 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Starship Technologies filed trademarks for "Starship" and "Robovan" before SpaceX and Tesla did. AdvertisementRobotic startup Starship Technologies has a few things in common with Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, and EV giant Tesla. Musk first showcased the Tesla Robovan on October 10 in Burbank, California, during Tesla's "We, Robot" event. According to United States Patent and Trademark Office records, Starship filed trademarks for "Starship" and "Robovan" in July 2015 and July 2017, respectively. AdvertisementIn October 2023, a legal marketing agency called X Social Media sued Musk's social media platform X in federal court in Florida.

Persons: Tesla, Elon Musk's, —, Tesla's, Musk Organizations: Starship, SpaceX, Service, Technologies, Elon Musk's, United States Patent, Starship Technologies, Belgium Brewing Company, Harbor, X Social Media, X Corp, Reuters, BI Locations: Burbank , California, Colorado, Florida, California

☆ Mark Zuckerberg has brilliantly cornered us
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-01 | by ( Lloyd Lee | Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewMark Zuckerberg looks poised to dominate the AI adoption race thanks to a technicality: Meta has three billion-plus captive users who have no choice but to use it. As the company reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, Zuckerberg gloated about Meta AI — its AI assistant rolled out earlier this year — being "on track to achieve our goal of becoming the most used AI assistant by the end of the year." Related storiesIn effect, then, that gives Zuckerberg a lot of engaged users to introduce AI-powered technology to. Meta's family of apps now has 3.27 billion daily active users. Zuckerberg also seems intent on showing users that AI can inherently make their experience of his apps vastly better.

Persons: —, Zuckerberg, It's, Mike Proulx, Forrester, WhatsApp, Susan Li Organizations: Service, Harvard, Business, Meta, Facebook, Apple, Apple Intelligence, OpenAI

☆ Ad insiders are buzzing about industry power broker Michael Kassan's messy split with UTA and what it means for the future of MediaLink
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

After falling out with Kassan, UTA may think twice about buying another agency. The media and ad industry will be watching to see what, if any, leadership changes UTA makes at MediaLink. The end of the ad industry schmoozefest? One industry veteran said they saw Kassan's exit as an opportunity to change how ad industry consultants operate and charge for services. At the center of the dispute between UTA and Kassan is the MediaLink founder's $950,000 annual expense account.

Persons: Michael Kassan, MediaLink, Kassan, Jeremy Zimmer, Kassan wasn't, Vianney Tisseau, headhunting, Jon Miller, Sanford Michelman, Michelman, Robinson, Ethan Miller, Julian Jacobs, David Anderson, WME, Kassan's, Wenda Harris Millard, wasn't, what's, There's, Lou Paskalis, Marc Sternberg's, Lady Gaga, Elton John, Mariah Carey, Tom Brady, Rob Norman, WPP's Organizations: UTA, Cannes Lions, Consumer, Business, Los Angeles Superior Court, Los, Judicial, Mediation Services, Variety Cannes Lions Studio, Integrated Media, Getty, Talent, Accenture, General Motors, Netflix, JUV Consulting, Madison, Endeavor, Writers Guild of America, Zimmer, Western Initiative Media Worldwide, Interpublic Group, Bank of America, AJL, Marc Sternberg's Brand, Kassan, Southwest, NFL Locations: MediaLink, Cannes, France, Madison, Droga5, Hollywood, Kassan, California, South, Austin

It is the first advertising company to reach a major settlement over the toll of opioids in the U.S. It faced a lawsuit in at least Massachusetts but settled with most states before they made court claims against it. James' office said the materials played up the abuse-deterrent properties of OxyContin and promoted increasing patients' doses. As part of the settlement, Publicis agreed to release internal documents detailing its work for Purdue and other companies that made opioids. The first began after OxyContin hit the market in 1996 and was linked mostly to prescription opioids, many of them generics.

Persons: Letitia James, Publicis, James, Bob Ferguson, Rosetta, ” Publicis, Sackler, OxyContin Organizations: Publicis, Publicis Groupe, New York, Purdue Pharma, Washington, Purdue, State Pharmacy, U.S, Supreme Locations: Paris, U.S, Massachusetts, Connecticut

☆ Google changes user data practices to end German antitrust probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Friederike Heine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBERLIN, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit Google has agreed to change its user data practices to end a German antitrust investigation aimed at curbing its data-driven market power, the German cartel office said on Thursday. The German regulator said Google's commitments would give users more choice on how their data is used across the company's platforms. "This not only protects the users' right to determine the use of their data, but also curbs Google's data-driven market power," he said. Google's commitment covers more than 25 other services including Gmail, Google News, Assistant, Contacts and Google TV. It does not apply to Google Shopping, Google Play, Google Maps, Google Search, YouTube, Google Android, Google Chrome and Google's online advertising services, all of which are subject to a new EU legislation called the Digital Markets Act which has similar obligations.

Persons: Arnd, Andreas Mundt, Matthias Williams, Foo Yun Chee, Friederike Heine, Mark Potter Organizations: European Engineering, REUTERS, Rights, Google, Tech, Gmail, Google News, Big Tech, Apple, Thomson Locations: Zurich, Switzerland

More than 9 million merchants sell their wares on Amazon's marketplace and also supply it with steady streams of revenue. Amazon collects advertising fees for touting their products, fulfillment fees for delivery in addition to less specific "sellers' fees." Some merchants welcome the potential of relaxed seller and advertising charges, while others worry that completely dissolving Amazon's advertising services would harm their ability to reach shoppers. The FTC found that the company's fulfillment fees increased approximately 30% between 2020 and 2022. Dieterle relies on Amazon's fulfillment and advertising services to boost merchandise sales.

Persons: Mike Segar, Rick Dieterle, Dieterle, Lindsay Windham, Bryan Croft, Croft, Big, Jason Hince, Hince, Stacy Mitchell, Arriana McLymore, Matthew Lewis 私 Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Merchants, U.S . Federal Trade, Big Tech, Amazon, FTC, Taco Brands, Union, HC Brands, Big Crazy Buffalo, Facebook, Google, Big, Institute for Local Locations: Manhattan, New York City, Rights RALEIGH, North Carolina, Buffalo, Raleigh , North Carolina

☆ Google engaged in a monopolistic feedback loop to maintain search dominance, DOJ alleges in first day of trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

That popularity, the company says, is why browser and phone makers have chosen Google as their default search engine through revenue sharing agreements. It will also hear from Apple's Senior Vice President of Services Eddy Cue and Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker, Google's lawyer said. Following opening statements, the DOJ lawyer questioned its first witness, as it begins what's known as its "case-in-chief." But it's important browsers pick the right search default, Schmidtlein said, as Mozilla learned when it switched its default from Google to Yahoo in 2014. WATCH: DOJ takes on Google in antitrust lawsuit over Google Search

Persons: Jonathan Kanter, Kevin Dietsch, Sundar Pichai, Services Eddy, Mitchell Baker, Google's, Sridhar Ramaswamy, Neeva, Hal Varian, Ting Shen, Varian, Kenneth Dintzer, Dintzer, Ditzner, Patterson Belknap Webb, William Cavanaugh, Joan Braddi, Braddi, Siri, Cavanaugh, Kent Walker, Williams, Connolly's John Schmidtlein, Schmidtlein, Denelle Dixon, Apple Organizations: Antitrust, Department of Justice, Getty, Google, Colorado, Washington , D.C, Apple's, Services, Mozilla, DOJ, AGs, Google Inc, Bloomberg, Microsoft, Federal Trade Commission, Apple, Samsung, Branch, Global Affairs, Inc, Yahoo, TechCrunch, CNBC, YouTube Locations: Washington , DC, Washington ,, Snowflake, Colorado, Siri

A logo of Meta Platforms Inc. is seen at its booth, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 17, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Meta Platforms Inc FollowSept 8 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge said Meta Platforms (META.O) must face a lawsuit claiming that it violated the medical privacy of patients who were treated by hospitals and other healthcare providers that used its Meta Pixel tracking tool. According to the plaintiffs, Meta Pixel provided sensitive information about their health to Meta when they logged into patient portals, where the tracking tool had been installed, enabling Meta to make money from targeted advertising. When the litigation began in June 2020, lawyers for one plaintiff said they had found at least 664 hospitals and other healthcare providers that used Meta Pixel. The case is In re Meta Pixel Healthcare Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

Persons: Benoit Tessier, William Orrick, Meta, Orrick, John Doe, Jane Doe, Jonathan Stempel, Jason Neely Organizations: Meta, Inc, Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, U.S, Facebook, Menlo, Healthcare, Court, Northern District of, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, San Francisco, California, Menlo Park , California, Northern District, Northern District of California, New York

☆ Amazon's knock-out quarter delivers on what Wall Street wanted, and we changed our price target
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Wall Street was happy to see stabilizing growth at the company's cloud unit Amazon Web Services and an uptick in operating margins. With Amazon turning a corner on profitability and AWS revenue growth stable, we think the stock still has more room to run. There's been plenty of debate surrounding AWS lately, with analysts and investors questioning whether revenue growth would decelerate to the high single digits. In North America, second-quarter operating margins improved to 3.9%, compared with 1.2% in the first quarter and a loss of 0.8%) a year ago. Third quarter outlook Amazon followed up the strong second quarter with a very bullish view of the third.

Persons: There's, Andy Jassy, Amazon, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Sheldon Cooper Organizations: Club, Web Services, Revenue, Refinitiv, Rivian Automotive, Amazon Web Services, North, CNBC, Lightrocket, Getty Locations: North America

July 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is finalizing its long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Amazon (AMZN.O) in a move that could ultimately break up parts of the company, Politico reported on Tuesday. The complaint could focus on challenges to Amazon Prime, Amazon rules that the FTC says block lower prices on competing websites, and policies it believes force merchants to use Amazon's logistics and advertising services, the report said. Politico did not mention the exact details of the final lawsuit, but said personnel throughout the agency, including FTC Chair Lina Khan, have homed in on several of Amazon's business practices. The FTC declined to comment and Amazon did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Last month, the FTC accused Amazon of enrolling millions of consumers into its paid subscription Amazon Prime service without their consent and making it hard for them to cancel.

Persons: Andy Jassy, Jeff Bezos, Lina Khan, Shivani Tanna, Arun Koyyur, Subhranshu Organizations: U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Amazon, Politico, Amazon Prime, FTC, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Netflix says subscribers to its ads plan have doubled. Meet the 19 execs driving the streamer's aggressive push into advertising.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Netflix said in its 2Q earnings that subscribers to its ads plan have doubled over the previous quarter. Peter Naylor, VP of global advertising salesPeter Naylor, VP, global advertising sales. Netflix has also brought on several directors and other roles in ad sales who've worked at Hulu, Snap, and elsewhere. Chad Rumminger, who focuses on automotive accounts, from automotive ad sales at Twitter. Julie Taylor Green is head of US vertical ad sales; she was TikTok's director of global business solutions before that.

Persons: execs, they're, Jeremi Gorman, Peter Naylor —, Netflix salespeople, Nielsen, DoubleVerify, Kelly Metz, They've, Gorman, Peter Naylor, who've, Naylor, Julie DeTraglia, Kinsey Tamberrino, He's, Hulu playbook, Adam Gerber, Gerber, he's, it's, She's, Asaf Davidov, DeTraglia, Jon Whitticom, Whitticom, that's, Kinsey Osberg Tamberrino, Michaela Giovengo, Valerie Bischak, Doug Brodman, Victoria Morris, Amy Newton, Joanna Read, Eric Berman, Chad Rumminger, Morgan Tully, Nicole Sabatini, Julie Taylor Green, Chris Smutny Organizations: Netflix, Hulu, ABC, Microsoft, Omnicom Media, Yahoo, Gorman's, ABC Television Group, Disney, Comcast, Viacom Media Network, Amobee, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Tech, Gaming, Entertainment Locations: Hulu, TikTok

☆ Ad giant IPG's data arm Kinesso has gone through an executive exodus, and the unit faces an uncertain future
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Lauren Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ad giant IPG is shaking up its data and tech arm Kinesso, and many of the unit's top execs have left. The move comes as IPG looks to cut costs from specialty services like data, a source said. Several top executives at ad agency holding group Interpublic Group's data and technology arm Kinesso have left, and now the unit faces an uncertain future, Insider has learned. IPG launched Kinesso in 2019 as a big bet on pitching marketers additional services that go beyond making and buying ads. Acxiom will remain a standalone unit that will provide data products and services to all of IPG's agencies, the source added.

Persons: IPG, Kinesso, Acxiom, Arun Kumar, Ian Johnson, Kimber Robbins, Nancy Hall, Hall, Philippe Krakowsky, Krakowsky, IPG's, they've, Dentsu, Merkle Organizations: Global, WPP, Mindshare, Reprise, UM, Agency, Epsilon Locations: Mediabrands

NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - Amazon shoppers snagged deals on food delivery, travel and healthcare during a two-day Prime Event that ended on Wednesday, highlighting the potential for growth in services at an e-retailing giant long focused on goods. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the shift to include services. Amazon offered a 28% discount for a one-year subscription to its One Medical service for U.S. Prime members who signed up before the Prime Day event ended. Experimenting with more Prime Day deals on services and discounted memberships could bolster Amazon's advertising services, Lipsman said. Investors expect ad revenue to reach $11.2 billion in the third quarter, which will include Prime Day data, according to Refinitiv data.

Persons: David Klink, we’re, Klink, Amazon's Grubhub, Grubhub, Andrew Lipsman, Lipsman, Arriana McLymore, Howard Goller Organizations: YORK, Adobe Analytics, Huntington National Bank, Walmart, Paramount, Priceline, Booking Holdings, Priceline's Hotel Express, Amazon, Intelligence, Merchants, Thomson

☆ Activist Legion Partners spots two possible paths to create value at Clear Channel Outdoor
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Business: Clear Channel Outdoor is an out-of-home advertising company that offers a variety of advertising services, including through billboards, street furniture displays, transit displays and airport displays. Activist Commentary: Legion is an activist investor whose managing directors are Chris Kiper, previously of Shamrock Activist Value Fund, and Ted White, previously of European activist fund Knight Vinke. Clear Channel effectively has two business lines – Americas and Europe, each with very different business models and valuations. Moreover, since this strategic review of Europe began in December 2021, Clear Channel has announced the sales of businesses in Italy, Spain and Switzerland. CCO first announced its strategic review of the European business in December 2021 and very little has come to fruition.

Persons: Chris Kiper, Ted White, Knight Vinke, Legion, CCO, CCO's underperformance, Ken Squire Organizations: Clear, Value Fund, Legion Partners, Europe, Legion, 13D Locations: U.S, Europe, Americas, iHeartMedia, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, America

☆ These 18 top Netflix execs are driving its advertising push under head Jeremi Gorman as the company makes its first big TV upfronts pitch
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Peter Naylor, VP of global advertising salesPeter Naylor, VP, global advertising sales. Netflix has also brought on several directors and other roles in ad sales who've worked at Hulu, Snap, and elsewhere. They are Kinsey Osberg Tamberrino, who is Publicis' main point of contact, and who spent eight years at Hulu, rising to director of advertising sales. Chad Rumminger, who focuses on automotive accounts, from automotive ad sales at Twitter. Julie Taylor Green is head of US vertical ad sales; she was TikTok's director of global business solutions before that.

☆ Amazon, Etsy, eBay, and Shopify sellers feel the squeeze of higher fees. Now they must get creative to stay profitable.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Etsy, eBay, Amazon, and Shopify have all raised fees for sellers in recent months. Amazon has also steadily raised fees for its Fulfillment by Amazon service since 2020. But he says things have gotten progressively more difficult in the last year as sales and traffic declined, inflation has squeezed his margins, and eBay has raised fees. Courtesy of Elizabeth MorganElizabeth Morgan, who sells handmade earrings on Etsy, said that she raised her prices by about 5% after Etsy raised fees last year. The Etsy fee hike has been more impactful, however.

☆ Factbox: Global firms with exposure to collapsed SVB
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

March 13 (Reuters) - Startup-focused lender SVB Financial Group (SIVB.O) became the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis last week, sending shockwaves across global markets as billions of dollars belonging to companies and investors were left stranded. The collapse raised concerns that the end of decades-long era of cheap money would reveal cracks in the global financial system as climbing interest rates expose vulnerabilities in the economy. HSBC (HSBA.L) said on Monday it is acquiring the UK subsidiary of SVB for 1 pound, rescuing a key lender for technology start-ups in Britain. Below is a list of companies across the globe that have revealed their exposure to SVB:EUROPEAround 16 tech and life sciences companies in Europe have disclosed about $190 million in exposure to SVB in the UK and the United States. Moonpig adds that SVB UK is one of ten lenders that provide senior debt facilities to the group as part of a strong banking syndicateASIA-PACIFICNITRO SOFTWARE (NTO.AX)Australia's productivity software maker Nitro Software Ltd (NTO.AX) said it had about $12.18 million of its global cash reserves held on deposit at SVB.

☆ Factbox: Which companies are affected by SVB collapse?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

ROKU (ROKU.O)Streaming devices maker says it has about $487 million, or 26% of its cash and cash equivalents, held in deposits with SVB. CIRCLEUS cryptocurrency firm Circle says $3.3 billion of its $40 billion of USD Coin reserves are at SVB. BLOCKFIBankrupt crypto lender BlockFi Inc has roughly $227 million in unprotected funds at SVB, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. VIR BIOTECHNOLOGY (VIR.O)Biotech firm says it maintains operating accounts at SVB with about $220 million as of Friday. EUROPEAround 16 tech and life sciences companies in Europe have disclosed about $190 million in exposure to SVB in the UK and the United States.

☆ Amazon's advertising business grew 19%, while Google and Meta both deal with slowdowns
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon's advertising business continues to grow despite a general slowdown in digital advertising, which has hurt companies like Google parent Alphabet, Facebook parent Meta and Snap. Indeed, while investors were pleased that Meta is cutting costs, sales in the company's fourth quarter dropped 4% year-over-year to $32.17 billion. Meta executives explained on Wednesday during a call with analysts that they don't see an immediate rebound in the digital advertising market coming anytime soon. Meanwhile, Alphabet on Thursday reported fourth quarter advertising revenues of $59.04 billion, a slowdown from $61.24 billion in the year-ago quarter. Alphabet's YouTube advertising unit, which faces competition from TikTok, brought in $7.96 billion in the fourth quarter, representing an 8% drop from a year ago.

☆ Twitter is down to fewer than 550 full-time engineers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter's full-time headcount has dwindled to approximately 1,300 employees, including fewer than 550 full-time engineers by title, according to internal records viewed by CNBC. Around 75 of the company's 1,300 employees are on leave including about 40 engineers. The company's trust and safety team, which makes policy recommendations, design and product changes with the aim of keeping all of Twitter's users safe, is down to fewer than 20 full-time employees. Before Musk led a $44 billion leveraged buyout of Twitter last year, Twitter's headcount stood at about 7,500 employees. Since taking over Twitter, Musk has faced a shareholder backlash at Tesla for being distracted, for stirring up political controversy with his strategy at Twitter, and for selling billions of dollars worth of his Tesla shares to finance his Twitter takeover.

☆ Amazon is emerging as a force in digital ads, but here's why we remain cautious on the stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Amazon 's (AMZN) advertising business is emerging as a primary competitor to Alphabet (GOOGL) and Meta Platform s (META), according to a new Wall Street survey. While encouraged by the growth in its ad business, we still don't think the tech and e-commerce giant has done enough to cut costs to protect margins. In the survey, 50 senior U.S. ad buyers said they anticipate Amazon's ad market share to rise from 6% in 2022 to 7% in 2024. Moreover, 40% of ad buyers believe Amazon will "emerge as a meaningful ad platform alongside GOOG and META." The analysts cited lower revenue from the company's cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS).

☆ Hit by climate change, farmers in Cambodia are risking everything on microfinance loans
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The loans are also seeing farmers put assets including their land up as collateral, even when the loans are high-interest and have short repayment windows. Taylor Weidman | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesNGOs estimate around 167,000 Cambodians have sold their land to pay microfinance loans over the last five years. A 2016 book published by the World Bank argued microfinance loans had reduced poverty and increased incomes in Bangladesh, and banking giant HSBC still promotes its funding of microfinance in the country. But the World Bank, an early and longstanding advocate of microfinance, has also been warning for years of risks including overindebtedness and the growing commercialization of the industry. In the capital Phnom Penh, she added, she commonly meets people working seven days a week to pay off spiraling MFI loans.

☆ EU warns Meta over Facebook Marketplace antitrust breach
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

European Union's antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement that she is concerned that Meta ties its dominant social network Facebook to its online classified ad services, which is called Facebook Marketplace. "This means Facebook users have no choice but to have access to Facebook Marketplace," she said. Facebook Marketplace was launched in 2016 and is used in 70 countries to buy and sell items. The Commission said on Monday that it was concerned that Meta is imposing "unfair trading conditions" on competitors of its own classified ads service, Facebook Marketplace, that want to advertise on its social networks Facebook or Instagram. The EU competition enforcer launched an investigation into Facebook in June last year, focusing on whether the social network unfairly uses advertisers' data to compete with them in the online classified ads sector.

☆ EU Charges Meta With Antitrust Violations Linked to Marketplace
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Kim Mackrael | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Meta could face a fine of up to 10% of its global annual revenue if it is found to have breached the EU’s antitrust rules. BRUSSELS—The European Union charged Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. with antitrust violations for allegedly distorting competition by tying its online classified ad service to its social network. The European Commission, the bloc’s antitrust enforcer, on Monday issued a charge sheet against Meta that said the U.S. tech company automatically gives Facebook users access to its Marketplace service, potentially pushing aside competitors. The commission said it is also concerned that Meta imposes unfair conditions on competing for online advertising services through its terms and conditions.

Search resuls for: "Advertising Services"

25 mentions found