Google may be favoring its own online display advertising tech services over those of rivals in violation of EU antitrust law, the European Commission said Tuesday. It launched a probe (case AT.40670) focused on whether the company distorts competition by restricting third-party access to user data for ads on websites and apps while keeping the data for its own use. EU display ads were about $24 billion in 2019, the EC said. The investigation will examine whether online display ad buyers on YouTube must use Google's Display & Video and/or Google Ads services and whether they must use Google Ad Manager to serve display ads on YouTube. It will examine the company's announced plans to bar placement of third-party cookies on Chrome and replace them with "Privacy Sandbox" tools, plus its decision to stop making the advertiser identifier available to third parties on Android smart mobile devices when a user opts out of personalized ads. Google said it will continue to engage with the EC, and its ad tech fees are lower than reported industry averages.
Hyundai completed its $1.1 billion buy of a controlling interest in mobile robotics company Boston Dynamics from SoftBank, said the companies Monday. Hyundai will own 80% of Boston Dynamics, SoftBank the rest, they said.
Prime Day rolled out without incident Monday as Amazon avoided website bottlenecks of previous years with a 3 a.m. EDT start. Detractors warned off shopping on the site, citing reports of poor employee working conditions. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) discouraged shopping at Amazon, telling reporters it's “the day when Amazon tries to outgun every small business.” Prime Day is “a perfect day not to shop Amazon” and instead “keep it local” and “buy from your neighborhood stores,” De Blasio said. An Amazon spokesperson emailed: “Over half of all products purchased on Amazon are sold by small and medium businesses, including more than 40,000 businesses in the State of New York who sold more than 600 million products in one year. That’s why we invest billions in logistics, tools, services, programs, and our teams to help our small and medium business selling partners succeed.” EMarketer estimated Prime Day, which runs through Tuesday, will generate $12 billion in sales worldwide.
Two Endeavor Group executives resigned from Live Nation Entertainment's board after DOJ expressed concerns that their positions there “created an illegal interlocking directorate,” the department said Monday. Endeavor and Live Nation “compete closely in many sports and entertainment markets,” DOJ said in announcing the resignations of Endeavor CEO Ariel Emanuel and President Mark Shapiro. Executives aren’t allowed to hold “board positions on companies that compete with each other,” noted acting Assistant Attorney General-Antitrust Richard Powers. Live Nation didn’t comment.
Louisiana asked to join Texas and nine other states’ antitrust lawsuit against Google in U.S. District Court in Sherman, Texas (see 2012160059). Louisiana filed the motion (in Pacer) Thursday.
Google’s first retail store, a LEED Platinum-certified, 5,000-square-foot space in the ground floor of its New York headquarters, opened in low-key fashion Thursday, with a couple dozen visitors waiting when doors opened at 10:02 a.m. Ten minutes beforehand, staffers rolled out an oversized red Google Maps pin to mark the spot, located the next block up and across the street from Apple’s West 14th Street store. Google enthusiast Mukesh Shah, 69, told us he left his home in New Jersey at about 7:45 a.m. to make the opening. He showed us a screen from Google Maps saying his 7,483 photos had 99.7 million views over four years. Shah wasn’t sure if he would buy anything but heard the first thousand visitors to the store would get a gift. Overhearing the conversation, Ron Brayer, who ventured over from the East Village, said, “If it’s a thousand,” he said of the reported gift, “it has to be something small.” Brayer had brought along an unopened Pixel 3a phone, hoping he could trade it in for a product. Breyer got a free Google tote bag with the store location on it. The outlet has vignettes showing Google and Nest products as they would appear in a household. Google staffers are required to wear masks. The unbranded white masks had the text “I’m smiling under here.” Masks are optional for visitors; about half of visitors were wearing them.
A National Advertising Review Board panel recommended Boost Mobile discontinue the claim it offers “unlimited data” on its “Go Unlimited” data plans based on a finding that it “failed to provide proper support for the use of the ‘unlimited data’ claim as reasonable consumers understand that term,” the Better Business Bureau affiliate said Wednesday. AT&T challenged the claims, the NARB said. Customers are throttled from 4G to 2G for the remainder of the month after reaching a cap, NARB said: “Throttling to 2G makes standard data operations virtually unusable, in contrast with consumer expectations about how the availability of ‘unlimited data’ enables them to use their phones.” Boost parent Dish Network didn’t comment.
Don’t count out the U.S. from again becoming a chipmaking powerhouse, reported the Hinrich Foundation Tuesday. Despite higher costs and lack of “large-scale local manufacturing ecosystems,” semiconductor production looks set to return to the U.S., it said. “This is a testament to the primacy of geopolitics over markets and the role of techno-nationalism in shaping the future.” Reshoring chip manufacturing to the U.S. won’t be easy due to the lack of a domestic manufacturing base and “the dearth of highly skilled labor required for complex chip manufacturing,” it said. But recent developments, including Intel’s $20 billion investment to expand operations in Chandler, Arizona, with two new foundries (see 2103240011), signal the U.S. “can arrest the free-fall of its chip manufacturing ability despite there still being a lot of ground to recover.”
Facebook's oversight board will review company policy on sharing private residential information, it said Tuesday. The social media giant asked the panel for recommendations about its policy on privacy violations and image privacy rights, it said. The request noted potential harms linked to releasing personal information such as addresses, including “doxing” (releasing documents) for revenge or stalking. Facebook must send panel recommendations through its official policy development process and give regular updates; it must publicly respond and follow up on recommendations within 30 days of receiving them, the board said. It wants input by July 9 whether free speech is unduly restricted if Facebook bars users from sharing any private residential information; benefits and limitations of automated technologies in enforcing the policy; and how the company should treat private information about a public figure and how that should be defined.
Graham, parent of broadcaster Graham Media, finalized its $323 million purchase of internet lifestyle content company Leaf Group, Graham said Monday. Leaf properties include Livestrong.com and Saatchi Art.