In her role as Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, Klobuchar has championed efforts to protect consumers, promote competition, and fight consolidation in major industrial sectors, including the telecommunications, technology, agriculture, and pharmaceutical sectors.Įarlier this month, Klobuchar issued a statement after the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released final Vertical Merger Guidelines that describe the principal practices and enforcement policies of the DOJ and the FTC with respect to vertical mergers that raise serious competitive concerns and risk harming consumers. We encourage the Department to be skeptical of any proposed remedies that do not appear adequate to protect competition from the likely effects of the proposed acquisition and urge the Department to take any enforcement action that may be warranted based on the evidence and the law, including federal litigation to block the merger, if appropriate.” “It is essential that the Department conduct a thorough review of the proposed Google/Fitbit merger, taking into account the various ways it could affect competition in the long term across multiple markets. The Division should also be wary of the risk that Google could use Fitbit’s data to lessen competition or foster monopoly positions in markets in which it is already dominant or approaching dominance. Accordingly, the Division should be extremely skeptical of unenforceable promises by Google not to employ Fitbit user data to support Google’s advertising and other businesses. And despite the troubles of its hardware business, Fitbit has and continues to collect sensitive activity-monitoring data from its millions of users. “Google’s revenue model is driven by the company’s ability to monetize user data. “Competition concerns about Google are widespread and bipartisan,” the senators wrote. Hirono (D-HI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Klobuchar was joined by Senators Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mazie K. The Senators raised concerns that some of these acquisitions may contributed to Google’s enduring dominance in several markets. Over the years, Google has completed more than 100 strategic acquisitions-including purchases of DoubleClick, AdMob, YouTube, Waze, and many other firms-virtually all of which cleared without significant enforcement action by federal antitrust enforcers. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, led a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to to urge the Antitrust Division to conduct a comprehensive review of Google’s proposed acquisition of Fitbit. Senators: “It is essential that the Department conduct a thorough review of the proposed Google/Fitbit merger, taking into account the various ways it could affect competition in the long term across multiple markets”
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