DOJ Paying Attention to Digital Markets, Antitrust Chief Says
A digital company's acquisitions of nascent competitors -- if seemingly solely to block that potential competition, protect a monopoly or hurt competition -- could raise Antitrust Division suspicions, DOJ antitrust head Makan Delrahim said Tuesday at the Antitrust New Frontiers…
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Conference in Tel Aviv, per prepared remarks. He said exclusivity issues can be anticompetitive in digital markets, though it's not always easy to ascertain when exclusivity agreements are pro-competitive vs. substantially foreclosing competition. He said coordinated conduct in digital markets "also could trigger closer scrutiny" in some situations by DOJ. He said the Antitrust Division isn't so myopic in its view of competition that it doesn't see that competition has non-price dimensions and that price effects alone don't fully illuminate digital market dynamics where the profit-maximizing price is zero. Competition is lost when an unlawful acquisition stops a product from reaching market, he said.