Articles tagged “antitrust”

The antitrust prospects of Expedia Inc.'s $1.6 billion acquisition of Orbitz Worldwide hinge on which prism competition authorities choose to view the deal. Expedia would have a 75 percent share of the U.S. online travel agency market but consumers have plenty of other ways to book their trips, too.

Booking.com likely faced penalties and findings that it infringed on competition laws if it hadn't come to terms with regulatory authorities in France, Italy and Sweden. This agreement appears to disadvantage Booking.com versus its competitors -- unless authorities compel them to sign similar pacts.

Kudos to the European Union for ensuring that Google doesn't wield its market power with excessive advantage in promoting its own services. The U.S. FTC's decision to avoid taking similar actions is a regulatory blemish, although the EU agreement could put more pressure on the FTC to take another look at these issues.

FairSearch member Foundem scrapped its flight, hotel and car rental services last March in a scrape with Google over its Panda penalties. The FTC isn't spanking Google, but Foundem seeks compensation for Google's alleged "anti-competitive" behavior.

American Airlines looks like the clear winner in its settlement with Sabre as the antitrust issue clearly took a back seat to using the courts to ram through a better deal for the airline.

American Airlines and Sabre are finally getting their day in court. With secret memos, claims of bias and ulterior motives, there's going to be a lot of dirt exposed.