Corporate & Securities Law

Congress on Microsoft and Yahoo

By David Fischer

InformationWeek reports that the House might hold a hearing on the antitrust implications (if any) of a potential Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo.

“Microsoft’s bid to acquire Yahoo is certainly one of the largest technology mergers we’ve seen and presents important issues regarding the competitive landscape of the Internet,” said Judiciary chairman John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and ranking Republican Lamar Smith, R-Texas, in a joint statement released Friday.

The Judiciary Committee’s Task Force on Antitrust and Competition Policy will give the proposed deal “a careful examination” at a hearing slated for this coming Friday, the statement said.

The committee will hear from experts — as yet unidentified — who will weigh in “on whether this proposed consolidation works to further or undermine the fundamental principles of a competitive Internet.”

Alos, the Department of Justice’s antitrust division “would be interested in looking at the competitive effects of the transaction.”

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Yahoo, antitrust

Full post as published by Antitrust Review on February 07, 2008 (boomark / email).