UK Approves Microsoft-Inflection Merger as Collaboration
Upon the announcement of the UK’s investigation into Microsoft, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) simultaneously initiated a probe into Amazon’s recruitment of essential executives, such as the CEO, from AI startup Adept.
Upon the announcement of the UK’s investigation into Microsoft, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) simultaneously initiated a probe into Amazon’s recruitment of essential executives, such as the CEO, from AI startup Adept. Additionally, they are reviewing Amazon’s intention to license some of Adept’s technology. The CMA disclosed in early August that they are launching an examination into Amazon’s association with Anthropic to determine if it necessitates a comprehensive investigation. A CMA investigation into Google’s collaboration with Anthropic is also in progress.
What constitutes a merger?
In its overview of the Microsoft-Inflection agreement, the CMA indicated that it evaluated the standards for a pertinent merger scenario as per the Enterprise Act 2022, stating, “There is no distinct aggregation of resources that forms an enterprise. According to the CMA’s recommendations, this may encompass a segment of employees and their expertise when it enables a particular business endeavor to persist.”
Moreover, they added, “Beyond recruiting the foundational former Inflection team, Microsoft also procured supplementary resources, including access to Inflection IP. The amalgamation of obtaining the central team alongside these resources was pivotal to the value of the deal since it facilitated the former Inflection team to carry out the pre-deal Inflection strategy for AI products tailored to consumers within Microsoft.”
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