EU may probe Facebook’s Kustomer acquisition over antitrust concerns

(Reuters) — Fb’s acquisition of customer support startup Kustomer could also be subjected to European Union antitrust scrutiny after Austria requested EU enforcers to take over the duty, the European Fee mentioned on Tuesday.

The transfer comes because the EU competitors regulator girds as much as vet extra tech, pharma, and biotech startup offers, sending a warning to tech giants criticized by some for so-called killer acquisitions, the place startups purchase nascent rivals with the aim of shutting them down.

The world’s largest social community introduced the deal in November. It may assist the corporate scale up its immediate messaging app WhatsApp, which has seen utilization bounce in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fb sought approval for the deal from the Austrian competitors company on March 31.

“We are able to verify that we’ve got obtained a request for referral from Austria,” a Fee spokesperson mentioned.

Different nationwide watchdogs have 15 working days to tell the EU competitors enforcer whether or not they too need it to assessment the deal.

“Following the expiry of the deadline for different Member States to affix the referral, the Fee could have 10 working days to determine whether or not to just accept or reject the referral,” the spokesperson mentioned.

Fb mentioned the deal would deliver extra innovation to companies and shoppers in a dynamic and aggressive house.

“We sit up for demonstrating to regulators that Fb and Kustomer would provide extra decisions and higher providers by way of this pro-competitive deal,” a Fb spokesperson mentioned.