antitrust policy

[nsacpi]

The hottest iPhone app in America may owe its popularity to government crackdowns on Apple.

That app, Delta, lets you play old-school video games like “Super Mario Bros.” on an iPhone.

Apple had banned apps like it for years but un-banned them this month without much explanation. Delta’s creators say growing anti-monopoly pressures were responsible for Apple’s flip-flop.

https://wapo.st/4aTsDHB

[nsacpi]

a little dated but a good look at consolidation in the healthcare industry and the effects on consumers

https://www.promarket.org/2021/06/02...s-competition/

[nsacpi]

The biggest U.S. challenge so far to the vast power of today’s tech giants is nearing its conclusion.

On Thursday and Friday, lawyers for the Justice Department, state attorneys general and Google will deliver their final arguments in a yearslong case — U.S. et al. v. Google — over whether the tech giant broke federal antitrust laws to maintain its online search dominance.

The government claims that Google competed unfairly when it paid Apple and other companies billions of dollars to automatically handle searches on smartphones and web browsers. Google insists that consumers use its search engine because it is the best product.

In the coming weeks or months, the judge who has overseen the trial in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Amit P. Mehta, will deliver a ruling that could change the way Google does business or even break up the company — or absolve the tech giant completely. Many antitrust experts expect he will land somewhere in the middle, ruling only some of Google’s tactics out of bounds.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/t...smid=url-share

There is irony here. The antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft decades ago created the space for Google to grow and thrive as a company.

[nsacpi]

[nsacpi]

The Justice Department and a group of states plan to sue Live Nation on Thursday, alleging the entertainment giant has used its ticketing monopoly to suppress competition and should be broken up, according to people familiar with the matter.

The lawsuit, to be filed in a New York federal court, would seek changes to the company’s business practices, including by asking a judge to effectively undo the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The Justice Department during the Obama administration allowed the merger to close despite concerns it would create an indomitable live-entertainment giant.

Among the practices the department plans to challenge are exclusive ticketing contracts that Ticketmaster has with many of the venues where high-profile acts perform, the people said. Those agreements typically run between three and five years and Ticketmaster often gives lucrative financial advances that entice the venues to sign up for long-term deals.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/l...d=hp_lead_pos2