Anti-Trust
- www.theverge.com Google must crack open Android for third-party stores, rules Epic judge
Android could soon be a very different place.
- www.thebignewsletter.com Enforcers Move to Cut Visa's Private Sales Tax
The Antitrust Division sued Visa for levying a private sales tax on every merchant in America. It's about time. The DOJ is going to win, as this case looks a lot like the case against Google search.
- arstechnica.com Google accuses Microsoft of antitrust violations over Azure cloud platform
Complaint cites "steep penalties" for Microsoft customers using other providers.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/23424063
> > Complaint cites "steep penalties" for Microsoft customers using other providers.
- www.cnbc.com Justice Department accuses Visa of debit network monopoly that affects price of 'nearly everything’
Visa and Mastercard have surged over the past two decades, reaching a combined $1 trillion market cap. That has attracted unwanted attention from regulators.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20149933
- www.thebignewsletter.com Up to a Quarter of Rental Inflation Is Due to Price-Fixing
From 2020-2024, rent prices spiked by a third. How much of that is due to collusion by corporate landlords and a software coordinator? And where is the Fed?
- www.thebignewsletter.com A Post-Google World
Another Google antitrust trial starts on Monday. If Google loses, it'll be three strikes. At some point, they will give up and realize that the writing is on the wall for their current business model.
- www.thebignewsletter.com How Joe Biden Engineered Apple's New AirPods
Today, Apple unveiled new AirPods that can function as hearing aids, made possible by Joe Biden's choice to have the Food and Drug Administration break the incumbent hearing aid cartel.
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Everett True scorns Big Business Politicians (September 7, 1914)
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19494011
> Printed 110 years ago today in The Day Book of Chicago Illinois: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/iune/batch_iune_golf_ver01/data/sn83045487/00280761291/1914090701/0164.pdf > > Besides the two posted so far, the Library of Congress has another two E. True cartoons printed September 7, 1914: > - in The Seattle Star, he smacks down a lawyer: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/wa/batch_wa_lacamas_ver01/data/sn87093407/0020029063A/1914090701/0276.pdf > - in The Detroit Times, he outbursts against rich people stuck in Europe due to the war: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/mimtptc/batch_mimtptc_ingalls_ver01/data/sn83016689/00279552039/1914090701/0739.pdf
- www.thebignewsletter.com Antitrust Enforcers: "The Rent Is Too Damn High!"
The Antitrust Division finally sued RealPage for orchestrating a conspiracy among corporate landlords and illegally hiking rents for millions in cities across the country.
- www.theverge.com Ticketmaster’s nontransferable ‘SafeTix’ are anticompetitive, DOJ suit claims
Company documents called SafeTix a ‘game-changer.’
cross-posted from: https://dubvee.org/post/1735883
> The Department of Justice has amended its antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation, alleging that Ticketmaster's introduction of nontransferable tickets and the SafeTix system was primarily intended to stifle competition from rival platforms like StubHub and SeatGeek, rather than merely to reduce ticket fraud. "The complaint, which was amended on Monday after 10 states joined the DOJ's lawsuit, cites internal Ticketmaster documents obtained during the legal process," notes The Verge. From the report: > > > In 2019, Ticketmaster rolled out SafeTix, which replaced static barcodes on electronic tickets with encrypted barcodes that refresh every 15 seconds. Ticketmaster marketed SafeTix as a way of reducing ticket fraud, but the complaint claims reducing competition was âoea primary motivationâ for the new ticketing system. [...] The amended complaint includes new information about Ticketmaster's dominance of the events market. One internal Live Nation document cited in the complaint notes that Ticketmaster is the primary ticketer for approximately 80 percent of arenas across the country that host NBA or NHL teams. As of 2022, Live Nation-promoted events accounted for 70 percent of all amphitheater shows across the country, according to internal Live Nation events mentioned in the complaint. > > > The DOJ alleges that because of Ticketmaster's conduct, consumers have âoepaid more and continue to pay more for fees relating to tickets to live events than they would have paid in a free and open competitive market.â The exact amount of monetary harm is still unknown, the complaint claims, and will require discovery from Ticketmaster and Live Nation's books, as well as from its third-party competitors.
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Anti-trust Georgism 🥰
www.thebignewsletter.com It’s the Land, Stupid: How the Homebuilder Cartel Drives High Housing PricesHenry George was right about land values. And today we have a homebuilder cartel rooted in control of land and financing.
- finance.yahoo.com Google just lost a big antitrust trial. Now it has to face another.
After losing a key antitrust case this week, Google has to square off next month against government prosecutors claiming the giant also abused its dominance of search advertising technology.
cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/23669888
- www.theatlantic.com We’re Entering an AI Price-Fixing Dystopia
Algorithmic collusion appears to be spreading to more and more industries. And existing laws may not be equipped to stop it.
cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/23732818
- www.thebignewsletter.com BOOM: Judge Rules Google Is a Monopolist
Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by excluding rivals from the general search engine market in order to maintain its monopoly. What happens now?
- www.bbc.com Google's online search monopoly is illegal, US judge rules
It is a major blow to Alphabet, Google's parent company, and could reshape how technology giants operate.
- www.thebignewsletter.com Billionaire Orders Kamala Harris to Fire Lina Khan
LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman gave $10 million to Harris' campaign and demanded an end to Biden's tariff and antitrust policies. Bernie Sanders reacted angrily.
- www.thebignewsletter.com What Would Kamala Harris Do About Corporate Power?
With Joe Biden not running for re-election, his running mate Kamala Harris is now in the spotlight. Her record on monopolies and financial concentration is mixed. Will she cede populism to the right?
- www.thebignewsletter.com Inside the Mafia of Pharma Pricing
4% of all the money in America flows through a few mafia-like health care conglomerates. The FTC just released a ground-breaking report on how they operate. And it is gearing up to sue.
- arstechnica.com Drug middlemen inflate US prices, squeeze out competition, FTC says
Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are key part of US's high drug costs, report finds.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17403190
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France poised to bring 'charges against Nvidia' • The Register
www.theregister.com France poised to bring 'charges against Nvidia'Euro nation's monopoly gendarmes cheesed off with GPU giant's dominance
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17136390
- deadline.com Disney Fails Again To Get Antitrust Class Action Over ESPN & Hulu Ownership Tossed Out
Almost two years after two dozen streaming subscribers sued the Mouse House over anticompetitive tactics, the case is moving forward
cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/35539951
- www.cnbc.com EU charges Microsoft with 'abusive' bundling of Teams and Office, breaching antitrust rules
The European Union on Tuesday accused Microsoft of breaching antitrust rules with the "abusive" bundling of its Teams and Office products.
cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/35481094
- www.thebignewsletter.com Inside FICO and the Credit Bureau Cartel
Mortgage lenders face destruction as a cartel of Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax work with FICO to drive them out of business. Regulator and anti-monopolist Rohit Chopra is pushing back.
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How The Jetson's Lost to Black Mirror
www.thebignewsletter.com Monopoly Round-Up: How The Jetson's Lost to Black MirrorA local auto mechanic has to deal with so many junk fees that he's afraid of the future. And why wouldn't he be? The future isn't what we thought it could be.
- www.thebignewsletter.com Why Has Trump Stopped Attacking Big Business?
In 2016, Donald Trump went after CEOs so often that the Wall Street Journal set up a tracker of stocks whose leaders he insulted. No longer. What happened?
- www.austinchronicle.com Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Chain Sold to Sony Pictures Entertainment
Hollywood studio pledges to keep the Drafthouse model going
- www.thebignewsletter.com Economic Termites Are Everywhere
Why is this economy so difficult to manage? The macro statistics are hiding the experience of being cheated.
- www.thebignewsletter.com Monopoly Round-Up: The Harvey Weinstein of Antitrust
Google has a political machine run by an operative Josh Wright. Wright just went down in a sordid scandal. What this saga shows is far more than the antitrust establishment wants you to see.
- www.thebignewsletter.com Monopoly Round-Up: Google Tries to Pay Off the Antitrust Division
In an astonishing move, Google cut a check to the U.S. government over an antitrust case, in the hopes of avoiding a jury trial. And it argues such jury trials are unconstitutional.
- www.thebignewsletter.com Antitrust Enforcers to Break Up Ticketmaster and End the "Ticketmaster Tax"
The "People's Lawyer" Jonathan Kanter wants to make concerts and live events more affordable, and today the Department of Justice filed suit to make it happen.
- www.thebignewsletter.com Is Ticketmaster Telling the Truth About Its Finances?
In response to recent antitrust charges, Live Nation claims it is barely profitable. But then quietly it also just flagged internal accounting issues on its investor docs. What is going on?
- www.theverge.com The US government is trying to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster
The DOJ is seeking a breakup of Live Nation.
- www.theguardian.com Corporations are forcing Americans to pay more for less – in their own words | Matt Stoller
Companies in the oil, hotel, meat and other sectors are price-gouging the US public. They’re not hiding it, either
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Apple Spanked in Antitrust Suit
open.substack.com Monopoly Round-Up: Apple Spanked in Antitrust SuitA few months ago, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple to change its app store rules. They didn't. Now she's very angry. Plus, the Antitrust Division is gearing up to go at Big Medicine.
