The year of strong acquisitions of Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet

 The year of strong acquisitions of Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet

US Big Tech just had 2021 with the most acquisitions of the past decade, according to financial technology platform Dealogic.

According to Dealogic data, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet have announced more acquisitions in 2021 than in any other year in the past decade. Specifically, Alphabet's 22 deals, Microsoft's 56 deals and Amazon's 29 deals in 2021 are all 10-year highs.

Dealogic data only takes into account publicly disclosed transaction value, but based on those records, Alphabet and Microsoft's total transaction volumes are also at 10-year highs, at $22 billion and $25, respectively. $ ,7 billion. Amazon's total transaction volume, at $15.7 billion, comes only after 2017, when it bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion.

The acquisition speed of technology giants (Big Tech) increasingly challenges the capacity of regulatory agencies. In the seven months since Lina Khan took over as Chair of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a cold war has raged between the tech giants and the bureaucrats.

Ms. Khan, who took over as head of the FTC last June, has not hesitated to recommend aggressive enforcement of antitrust policy. She filed a complaint against Facebook, claiming that the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp contributed to the social network's monopoly status.

On the contrary, she was criticized by both Facebook and Amazon that her previous posts and statements about Amazon's abuse of market power, as well as her work as a member of the House of Representatives, were inappropriate. to fairly evaluate companies.

Microsoft's $69 billion deal with video game maker Activision Blizzard this week is the latest example of a major tech company's ability to defy regulators. It follows several major deals from 2021, including Microsoft's $19 billion purchase of Nuance Communications; and Amazon's $8.5 billion deal to acquire MGM Studios.

Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, says Big Tech is eager to close deals before the US government can set a new precedent. "When one judge sets a precedent in a case, it's easier for other judges to follow that precedent," he said.

So far, the FTC has relied on a strategy of deterrence to clamp down on tech giants' takeovers, as it struggles to keep up with the historic increase in merger filings by tech giants. different industries. It is not clear how far the agency is willing to go to tackle challenges on the antitrust front.

With a modest operating budget, the FTC opted to send letters to a number of companies seeking to incorporate, warning that the agency would continue to investigate deals even after the statutory waiting period has passed. . After warning businesses that they can do so at their own risk, the FTC can sue the companies to force the cancellation of the deals.

In her interview with CNBC, Ms. Khan said that fighting Big Tech "requires courage," though she stopped short of suggesting her agency would block any existing deal. "These are companies with huge resources. They are not afraid to deploy those resources," she assessed.