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☆ EU's competition chief Margrethe Vestager under fire for hiring a U.S. economist
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager is answering questions from lawmakers on considering giving a top job in her cabinet to a U.S. citizen. Europe's powerful competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, is under fire for hiring an American citizen for one of her team's top jobs. Vestager, who's been leading investigations into Big Tech for almost 10 years, is due to answer questions from European lawmakers Tuesday after appointing Fiona Scott Morton, a professor at the Yale School of Management, as chief competition economist at the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. Laurence Boone, France's secretary for Europe, said on Twitter that she had spoken with Vestager about this nomination, adding that "Europe has many talented economists." "I invite the European Commission to reconsider its choice," he added.

Persons: Margrethe Vestager, who's, Fiona Scott Morton, Laurence Boone, Jean, Noël Organizations: Big Tech, Yale School of Management, European Commission, Twitter, Commission, CNBC Locations: Europe, Brussels

☆ US economist's Big Tech experience is good for EU, EU's Vestager says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BRUSSELS, July 18 (Reuters) - U.S. economist Fiona Scott Morton's experience from her consulting work for Big Tech, will stand her in good stead in her new job as chief economist at the European Commission, EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager told EU lawmakers on Tuesday as she defended her choice. "I think it's a good thing to come with experience, she knows our system inside out," Vestager said, addressing concerns of conflicts of interest due to Scott Morton's consulting work for Big Tech. Reporting by Foo Yun CheeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Fiona Scott Morton's, Margrethe Vestager, Vestager, Scott Morton's, Foo Yun Chee Organizations: Big Tech, European Commission, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS

BRUSSELS, July 18 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday criticised EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager's decision to hire a U.S. economist over a European to help oversee Big Tech, adding her previous work could lead to conflicts of interest. Macron added he was "attached to reciprocity", and noted that the U.S. and China would not have appointed an overseas national in such a role. Scott Morton will advise the European Commission on its investigations into Big Tech and its enforcement of a series of landmark rules to rein in tech giants. Macron pointed to her previous work for "many companies" as something that could also result in conflicts of interest. She said previous chief economists at the Commission had also done consulting work without posing any issues.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Margrethe Vestager's, Vestager, Fiona Scott Morton, Barack Obama's, Macron, Scott Morton, Jean Tirole, Scott Morton's, Sudip Kar, Bernadette Baum, Sharon Singleton, Jan Harvey Organizations: Big Tech, U.S . Department of Justice, European Union, Commission, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Europe, China

☆ EU Commission sticks to US economist pick for senior antitrust job
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, July 14 (Reuters) - The European Commission stuck to its guns on Friday, saying it was not reconsidering EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager's pick of a U.S. economist to a senior job helping to oversee Big Tech despite criticism from French ministers and EU lawmakers. Fiona Scott Morton, 56, the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Justice during former President Barack Obama's tenure, will take up her three-year stint on Sept. 1 when the current chief economist, Pierre Regibeau, retires. She will be the first non-EU national, first U.S. national and first woman for the job. They cited the strategic importance of the post, potential conflicts of interest due to Scott Morton's previous work with Big Tech, and her previous public antitrust comments. Head of the centre-right group European People's Party Manfred Weber, president of the liberals' group Renew Europe Stephane Sejourne, head of the socialists group Iratxe Garcia Perez and the heads of the green party Philippe Lamberts and Terry Reintke said they opposed the new hire.

Persons: Margrethe Vestager's, Fiona Scott Morton, Barack Obama's, Pierre Regibeau, Vestager, Scott Morton's, Dana Spinant, European People's Party Manfred Weber, Europe Stephane Sejourne, Iratxe Garcia Perez, Philippe Lamberts, Terry Reintke, Scott Morton, Foo Yun Chee, Jan Harvey Organizations: European Commission, Big Tech, U.S . Department of Justice, EU, European People's Party, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, U.S, Europe

BRUSSELS/PARIS, July 13 (Reuters) - France's foreign minister and government minister have called EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager to reconsider her appointment of a U.S. economist and former antitrust official to a senior job at the European Commission overseeing Big Tech. Vestager on Tuesday announced the hiring of Fiona Scott Morton, the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Justice during former President Barack Obama's tenure. Scott Morton will take up her post on Sept. 1 when the current chief economist, Pierre Regibeau, retires. French foreign minister Catherine Colonna said she was astonished at the appointment. "I invite the @EU_Commission to reconsider their choice."

Persons: Margrethe Vestager, Fiona Scott Morton, Barack Obama's, Scott Morton, Pierre Regibeau, Catherine Colonna, Jean, Noel Barrot, Foo Yun Chee, Conor Humphries Organizations: European Commission, Big Tech, Vestager, Tuesday, U.S . Department of Justice, Charles River Associates, DG, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, PARIS, France, Europe

☆ Illumina hit with record $476 million EU antitrust fine over Grail deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SummaryCompanies Fine corresponds to 10% of Illumina global turnoverGrail given symbolic 1,000-euro fine for active roleIllumina says fine disproportionate, will appealBRUSSELS, July 12 (Reuters) - U.S. genetic testing company Illumina (ILMN.O) was fined a record 432-million-euro ($476 million) by the EU on Wednesday for closing its takeover of cancer test maker Grail (GRAL.O) before securing EU antitrust approval. By closing the deal prematurely, Illumina was able to exercise a decisive influence over Grail, the EU enforcer said, calling the move unprecedented and a very serious infringement. Illumina and Grail knowingly and deliberately did so by implementing their tie-up as we were still investigating," EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. The company has challenged the EU veto of the deal, its decision to examine the deal despite not meeting the EU merger criteria and the EU order to keep Grail separate so that it can unwind the deal. It said success in the second case would nullify the EU fine and expects the EU court to rule in late 2023 or early 2024.

Persons: Illumina, Margrethe Vestager, Grail, Ilumina, Foo Yun Chee, Elaine Hardcastle Organizations: EU, European Commission, Regulators, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, U.S, EU

☆ Broadcom's $61 billion VMware deal wins conditional EU antitrust OK
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, July 12 (Reuters) - U.S. chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO.O) secured EU antitrust approval on Wednesday for its $61 billion proposed acquisition of cloud computing firm VMware (VMW.N) after offering remedies to help rival Marvell Technology (MRVL.O). The deal, Broadcom's largest ever, will help the chipmaker diversify into enterprise software. Broadcom offered Marvell and other rivals interoperability commitments related to its Fibre Channel Host-Bus Adapters (FC HBAs), a kind of storage adapters, the European Commission said, confirming a Reuters story last month. Marvell and other rivals will also have guaranteed access to the source code for all of Broadcom's current and future FC HBA drivers through an irrevocable open source license. "The commitments offered by Broadcom will enable its only rival Marvell, to continue competing on equal footing and ensure a similar protection for any future entrants," EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

Persons: Marvell, Margrethe Vestager, Foo Yun Chee, Jason Neely Organizations: chipmaker Broadcom, VMware, Marvell Technology, Broadcom, Marvell, Fibre, HBAs, European Commission, Reuters, FC HBAs, FC HBA, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, European Union, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Taiwan

☆ EU looks to take lead in metaverse world, avoid Big Tech dominance
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, July 11 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Tuesday set out a plan in a bid to take the lead in the metaverse - shared virtual worlds accessible through the internet - and to prevent Big Tech dominating a nascent sphere that could boost economic growth. The EU initiative comes as Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) work on metaverse products or services, prompting fears that the companies may get an unfair advantage over smaller rivals. "We need to have people at the centre and shape it according to our EU digital rights and principles, to address the risks regarding privacy or disinformation. Last week, she said that there are no plans to regulate the metaverse for now but expects the raft of rules enacted in recent years, including privacy, market power and the upcoming artificial intelligence regulation to apply to the new field. Reporting by Foo Yun CheeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Margrethe Vestager, Foo Yun Chee Organizations: European Commission, Big Tech, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, EU, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, EU

☆ Metaverse has set off no alarms or need for controls yet - EU's Vestager
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, July 6 (Reuters) - The metaverse, shared virtual worlds accessible through the internet, has not triggered any concerns so far or the need for legislation to rein it in, EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said on Thursday. An initiative that she will present on the metaverse next week aims to help competition regulators understand the industry's dynamics, Vestager said. "Actually we see that there is a lot of innovation when it comes to virtual worlds. The initiative to be announced next week proposes a toolbox with guidelines on taking part in virtual worlds and one to fight counterfeiting, according to a document seen by Reuters. It also proposes standards for open and interoperable virtual worlds to avoid the dominance of a few and the introduction of regulatory sandboxes.

Persons: Margrethe Vestager, Vestager, Foo Yun, Ros Russell, Devika Organizations: Facebook, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Reuters, Commission, Big Tech, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Europe

☆ EU Anti-Trust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on digital markets and the future of tech regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | 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 EmailEU Anti-Trust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on digital markets and the future of tech regulationMargrethe Vestager, European Commission Executive Vice President and Competition Commissioner, discusses the future of tech companies under the Digital Markets Act, safeguards on usage of artificial intelligence, and the current anti-trust landscape.

Persons: Margrethe Vestager Organizations: EU, European, Competition, Digital Markets

☆ Google may be forced to break up its ad business after EU charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The EU might force Google to break up its ad business. Google could be forced to break up parts of its empire after the EU accused it of abusing its dominance in digital ads and "distorting" the competition. As yet, Google is not being fined nor is it being immediately instructed to break up its business. The company will be able to argue its case, and a final outcome to the Commission's investigation is still pending. "The Commission's investigation focuses on a narrow aspect of our advertising business and is not new.

Persons: Margrethe Vestager, Google's, Dan Taylor Organizations: Google, Morning, European Commission, YouTube, Microsoft Locations: adtech

☆ Google faces EU break-up order over anti-competitive adtech practices
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 17, 2021. Its 2022 advertising revenue, including from search services, Gmail, Google Play, Google Maps, YouTube adverts, Google Ad Manager, AdMob and AdSense, amounted to $224.5 billion. EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said Google may have to sell part of its adtech business because a behavioural remedy is unlikely to be effective at stopping the anti-competitive practices. The Commission said it took issue with Google favouring its own online display advertising technology services to the detriment of competing providers of advertising technology services, advertisers and online publishers. Google is the world's dominant digital advertising platform with a 28% market share of global ad revenue, according to research firm Insider Intelligence.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Margrethe Vestager, Foo Yun Chee, Sudip Kar, Philip Blenkinsop, Gupta, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Google LLC, Google, Chelsea, REUTERS, Gmail, European, EU, The, AdX, Intelligence, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Manhattan , New York City, U.S, BRUSSELS, AdSense, United States

☆ EU officials accuse Google of antitrust violations in its ad tech business
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Washington CNN —Google’s advertising business should be broken up, European Union officials said Wednesday, alleging that the tech giant’s involvement in multiple parts of the digital advertising supply chain creates “inherent conflicts of interest” that risk harming competition. The formal accusations mark the latest antitrust challenge to Google over its sprawling ad tech business, following a lawsuit by the US Justice Department in January that also called for a breakup of the company. For example, the commission claims, advertisers who used Google’s ad buying tools frequently had their purchases routed to AdX instead of to rival ad exchanges. One proposed solution by the commission would spin off Google’s ad exchange and publisher tools from the ad-buying tools it provides to advertisers. Google remains committed to creating value for our publisher and advertiser partners in this highly competitive sector,” Taylor said.

Persons: ”, Margrethe Vestager, Dan Taylor, ” Taylor Organizations: Washington CNN, European Union, Google, US Justice Department, EU, —, CNN Locations: AdX

☆ EU charges Google with anti-competitive practices in ad tech business
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, reached a preliminary conclusion that Google is dominant in the European market for publisher ad servers and for programmatic ad-buying tools for the open web. The commission also said Google has abused this dominant position since at least 2014. "The Commission's preliminary view is therefore that only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services would address its competition concerns," EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. "Our preliminary concern is that Google may have used its market position to favour its own intermediation services. If confirmed, Google's practices would be illegal under our competition rules,"Google was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Persons: Margrethe Vestager, Vestager Organizations: European Union, European Commission, EU, Google, CNBC Locations: Brussels, Belgium

☆ Factbox: Governments race to regulate AI tools
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

CHINA* Planning regulationsThe Chinese government will seek to initiate AI regulations in its country, billionaire Elon Musk said on June 5 after meeting with officials during his recent trip to China. ITALY* Investigating possible breachesItaly's data protection authority plans to review other artificial intelligence platforms and hire AI experts, a top official said in May. ChatGPT became available again to users in Italy in April after being temporarily banned over concerns by the national data protection authority in March. SPAIN* Investigating possible breachesSpain's data protection agency said in April it was launching a preliminary investigation into potential data breaches by ChatGPT. The Biden administration earlier in April said it was seeking public comments on potential accountability measures for AI systems.

Persons: Alan Turing, Elon Musk, Margrethe Vestager, Vestager, CNIL, Dado Ruvic, Ziv Katzir, Israel, ChatGPT, OpenAI, Antonio Guterres, Guterres, Michael Bennet, Biden, Alessandro Parodi, Amir Orusov, Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan, Milla Nissi Organizations: Microsoft, Authority, Reuters, EU, Key, European Consumer Organisation, Seven, REUTERS, Israel Innovation Authority, UNITED, International Atomic Energy Agency, United Nations, U.S . Federal Trade Commission's, Thomson Locations: AUSTRALIA, BRITAIN, Britain, CHINA, China, Beijing, U.S, FRANCE, Italy, Hiroshima, Japan, IRELAND, ISRAEL, Israel, ITALY, JAPAN, SPAIN, Gdansk

☆ EU antitrust regulators approve Vivendi, Lagardere deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, June 9 (Reuters) - Vivendi (VIV.PA), the French media conglomerate controlled by billionaire Vincent Bollore, on Friday won conditional EU antitrust approval for its acquisition of France's largest publisher Lagardere (LAGA.PA). Vivendi last year announced the deal which would give it control of Lagardere's flagship weekly publications Journal du Dimanche (JDD) and Paris Match. Vivendi said in a statement that it was confident it would finalise those two transactions by the end of October. "The remedies proposed by Vivendi will allow for the preservation of existing competition in those markets, to the benefit of consumers." Reuters reported in April that the remedies were sufficient to help Vivendi gain EU antitrust clearance for the acquisition.

Persons: Vincent Bollore, Margrethe Vestager, Daniel Kretinsky, Yannick Bollore, Foo Yun Chee, Bart Meijer, Sudip Kar, Gupta, Louise Organizations: Vivendi, Paris Match, European Commission, Reuters, Le Monde, TF1, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, EU, Czech, Le

STOCKHOLM, June 6 (Reuters) - Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has no plans to go public any time soon, Chief Executive Sam Altman said at a conference in Abu Dhabi. OpenAI has so far raised $10 billion from Microsoft (MSFT.O) at a valuation of almost $30 billion as it invests more on building computing capacity. "We did not threaten to leave the EU," Altman said on Tuesday. There's still more clarity we are waiting for on the EU AI Act, but we are very excited to operate in Europe." Many experts have cited a potential threat to jobs being replaced by AI including in sectors such as transport and logistics, office support and administration, production, services and retail.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, OpenAI, Thierry Breton, Margrethe Vestager, Supantha Mukherjee, David Goodman, Emelia Organizations: Microsoft, United Arab Emirates, EU, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, India, South Korea, EU, Europe, Stockholm

☆ Italian senator reads AI-generated speech in parliament 'to stir debate'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ROME, June 1 (Reuters) - An Italian senator has surprised his colleagues by reading out in parliament a speech drafted by a chatbot, saying afterwards that he pulled the stunt to stir "a serious debate" on risks and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence. "How many of us today are able to distinguish between a text produced by human intelligence and a stream of thoughts ... produced by an artificial intelligence algorithm?" His speech, on the subject of various bilateral deals with Switzerland, was produced by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O)-backed OpenAI's GPT-4 chatbot, the senator told Reuters on Thursday. He said his staff "took a couple of hours" to feed the necessary information into the software, which then produced the speech "instantaneously". Reporting by Federico Maccioni; Editing by Alvise Armellini and David HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Marco Lombardo, Lombardo's, Carlo Calenda, " Lombardo, Margrethe Vestager, Federico Maccioni, Alvise Armellini, David Holmes Organizations: Microsoft Corp, Reuters, Twitter, European Union, Thomson Locations: Italian, Switzerland, Italy

☆ US, EU agree firm stance on China at trade, tech meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Philip Blenkinsop | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The two partners sought at their Trade and Technology Council in Sweden to find common interests, such as over artificial intelligence and future trade in environmentally-friendly goods, but China proved a pervasive topic. The statement said the EU and the United States were deeply concerned about foreign information manipulation, interference and disinformation. The European Union plans to recalibrate its China policy, recognising coordination with a more hawkish United States is essential. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the EU's and the United States' views of China had increasingly converged, noting neither was looking for confrontation. They also said they were committed to working with the G7 to coordinate action to counteract acts of economic coercion, which would include trade restrictions the EU says China has imposed on EU member Lithuania.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Margrethe Vestager, Jonas Ekstromer, you've, Philip Blenkinsop, Emelia Sithole Organizations: European, Trade, Technology Council, TT News Agency, REUTERS, European Union, TTC, EU, Lithuania, Thomson Locations: Lulea, Sweden, REUTERS LULEA, United States, Ukraine, China, EU, Brussels, recalibrate, Africa, Latin America

☆ EU's Vestager sees draft code of conduct on AI within weeks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LULEA, Sweden, May 31 (Reuters) - European Union tech chief Margrethe Vestager said she believed a draft voluntary code of conduct for generative AI could be drawn up "within the next weeks", with a final proposal for industry to sign up "very, very soon". "Generative AI is a complete game-changer," Vestager, who is a vice president of the European Commission, told a news conference on Wednesday after a meeting of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council. "Everyone knows this is the next powerful thing. So within the next weeks we will advance a draft of an AI code of conduct," she said, adding she hoped there would be a final proposal "very, very soon" that industry could sign up to. Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Bart Meijer; Editing by Alison WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Margrethe Vestager, Vestager, Philip Blenkinsop, Bart Meijer, Alison Williams Organizations: LULEA, Union, European Commission, EU, U.S . Trade, Technology Council, Thomson Locations: Sweden

☆ EU tech chief calls for voluntary AI code of conduct within months
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Philip Blenkinsop | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LULEA, Sweden, May 31 (Reuters) - The United States and European Union should push the artificial intelligence (AI) industry to adopt a voluntary code of conduct within months to provide safeguards while new laws are developed, EU tech chief Margrethe Vestager said on Wednesday. The European Union's AI Act, with rules on facial recognition and biometric surveillance, could be the world's first comprehensive legislation governing the technology, but is still going through the legislative process. "In the best of cases it will take effect in two and a half to three years time. That is obviously way too late," Vestager told reporters before a meeting of the joint EU-U.S Trade and Technology Council in Sweden. Vestager, a European Commission vice president, said a code of conduct come emerge quickly while governments and legislators from the EU to Canada to India establish rules.

Persons: Margrethe Vestager, Vestager, Thierry Breton, Philip Blenkinsop, Mark Potter Organizations: LULEA, European Union, EU, U.S Trade, Technology Council, European Commission, Thomson Locations: Sweden, United States, European, Canada, India

☆ EU, US to weigh China, AI, trade strains at high-level Sweden talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Philip Blenkinsop | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Trade Representative Katherine Tai and European Commission vice president and trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis will also take part. China will be a major focus of the meeting, even if the word "China" only features twice in the draft joint statement - on non-market practices and disinformation. The gathering in northern Sweden comes just as the European Commission presents its "Economic Security Strategy", expected to contain measures to prevent rivals such as China gaining access to its most sensitive technology. Brussels wants to see cooperation to boost green trade, such as mutual recognition of products, even though the U.S. and EU do not have and do not plan to forge a free-trade agreement. The EU is seeking progress with the U.S. towards an accord on critical minerals used for electric vehicles.

☆ EU will go easy on Indian resale of Russian fuel
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Shritama Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Yet, the risk of an energy inflation resurgence makes a European Union ban on Russian oil reselling a tough call. The war in Ukraine has offered India an opportunity to boost purchases of discounted Russian oil. European imports of oil derivatives jumped to 200,000 barrels per day after the EU banned Russian crude products imports on Feb. 5 from 154,000 barrels previously, according to Kpler data. And New Delhi argues oil products substantially transformed in a third country cannot be subject to EU sanctions. loadingTo avoid an open clash with India, the EU could try to target European companies buying Russian-origin refined oil.

☆ Microsoft wins EU antitrust approval for Activision deal vetoed by UK
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard's games characters in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. Microsoft has in recent months signed licensing deals with Nvidia (NVDA.O), Nintendo (7974.T), Ukraine's Boosteroid and Japan's Ubitus to bring Activision games to their platforms should the deal go through. "The European Commission has required Microsoft to license popular Activision Blizzard games automatically to competing cloud gaming services. CLOUD GAMING MARKET GROWTHVestager said the Commission had a different view from UK regulators of how the game streaming market, which accounted for just 1% of the total market last year, would develop. "Microsoft and Activision’s lawyers will also use the decision to provide greater ballast to their appeal of the CMA's decision."

☆ Microsoft wins EU antitrust nod for Activision deal, after UK veto
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, May 15 (Reuters) - Microsoft has won EU antitrust approval for its $69 billion Activision takeover, which was vetoed by Britain, after regulators said its offer of free 10-year licensing deals to gamers and cloud streaming rivals addressed their concerns. The European Commission said on Monday that the biggest-ever deal in gaming was pro-competitive due to Microsoft's (MSFT.O) licensing deals, confirming a Reuters report in March. Such licenses are "practical and effective", European Union antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager told reporters. "Actually they significantly improve the condition for cloud game streaming compared to the present situation, which is why we actually consider them pro-competitive," she added. The EU watchdog said Microsoft has offered 10-year free licensing deals to European consumers and cloud game streaming services for Activision's (ATVI.O) PC and console games.

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