For Microsoft, CRA economists advised on the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn in Europe and the US. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cleared the transaction and the EC cleared the deal subject to conditions to address potential concerns in “professional social networking” (PSN). Our analysis considered the parties’ ability and incentive to foreclose third-party suppliers of CRM solutions by restricting the availability of LinkedIn’s (sales intelligence) products, or tying/bundling them with Microsoft’s productivity assets.
Private equity and competition—Comparing US agency views to recent policy and empirical evidence
The Biden-era Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (DOJ) have made no secret of their intention to closely scrutinize...