MW FTC's latest case against Microsoft represents Lina Khan's last swing against Big Tech
By Therese Poletti
A reported antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. will likely be the last gasp of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan's rather unsuccessful tenure of trying to rein in Big Tech.
Late Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that the FTC is opening up an antitrust investigation into the software giant, covering everything from Microsoft's $(MSFT)$ cloud services and software licensing businesses to its cybersecurity and AI products. The report said the FTC has sent a request for information that is over 100 pages long, signed off by Khan.
Microsoft officials declined to comment.
The move by Khan, who has less than two months remaining in office before the Trump administration takes over, is one last attempt to rein in Big Tech, after an unsuccessful tenure that suffered under a blistering attack by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in Congress last year.
Khan has already had a failed encounter with Microsoft, after her effort to quash the company's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. That deal went through in October 2023, after the tech giant made several compromises to get the deal approved.
In addition, Khan's FTC failed to block Meta Platforms Inc. $(META)$ from buying a small virtual-reality startup, Within Limited.
Separately, the FTC's ongoing case to attempt to break up Meta is scheduled to go to trial in April 2025 in Washington. Bloomberg reported that the presiding U.S. District Court judge has warned the FTC about its own case. "The Commission faces hard questions about whether its claims can hold up in the crucible of trial," the judge wrote in a ruling on Meta's motion to dismiss, according to Bloomberg.
Last year, Khan also filed a sweeping case against Amazon.com Inc. $(AMZN)$ alleging the e-commerce giant exploits its monopoly power. That case is set to go to trial in 2026. The FTC did not specifically mention Amazon's efforts to buy iRobot Corp. (IRBT), the maker of the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, for $1.4 billion in its suit, though it cited Amazon's growth through acquisitions. Earlier this year, Amazon decided to abandon the deal, after missing a deadline to file concessions it would make to the E.U., but it was a move that hurt iRobot more than Amazon.
Going forward into the new administration, it is uncertain what will happen with this latest attempt at a case against Microsoft. Big Tech has so far proved nearly impossible to rein in, and whether the Trump administration even wants a go at it is unclear.
Trump is not expected to keep Khan on at helm of the FTC. "He certainly is not going to keep Lina Khan on," said Harry Broadman, a principal at WestExec Advisors and senior economist at the Rand Corp, in an interview earlier this month before this latest news. "It's not any secret that Trump is a friend of business, whether they are anticompetitive or not, but the consumers lose when there is collusion in industries."
The new regime is clearly going to be looking to cut government costs and waste, based on Trump's appointment of Tesla Inc. $(TSLA)$ CEO Elon Musk as co-chair of a commission for government efficiency. The Justice Department settled a long and grinding antitrust case against Microsoft in 2001, and there's a big question of whether it would venture into another costly legal battle against the company.
Khan looks to be on the wrong side of the incoming administration, and her track record will not help with this last gasp at another big antitrust lawsuit before she inevitably steps down.
-Therese Poletti
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November 27, 2024 20:36 ET (01:36 GMT)
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