8 Oct - Commercial Awareness - Tech
Topic: Google’s antitrust trial about making its search engine default
https://www.ft.com/content/3d60547c-9d51-48a6-a6e2-426f72c76ce1
https://www.ft.com/content/d761d863-8f7f-43fa-94cd-5e74959dd19b
Another Big Tech antitrust issue today. Google search vs DOJ - bringing Microsoft’s Bing into court as testimony
The agreement - Google paid billions of dollars to Apple to use Google Search as the default search engine. The act and the astronomical figure were perceived to be an antitrust issue by the DOJ.
The DOJ’s struggle when proving antitrust
- One, they need a supply of incriminating emails or direct witnesses to bring the claims of illicit business behaviour, otherwise they’re relying on abstract economic theories.
- Two, Google deliberately delete potentially incriminating internal communications.
- Three, the prosecution produced very little evidence. One piece of evidence is an email from Google to Apple about giving users the option to choose a default search engine including Safari: “No default – no revenue share”.
- Four, one compelling evidence from the DOJ is the financial incentive to suppress rivals – Google paid $10 billion. However, the DOJ struggled to prove an “obvious harm”.
What Google is saying
- It’s relatively easy for users to switch the default setting.
- Users prefer Google Search because of its strength
- Users don’t like Microsoft because Windows is made to cater to laptops and they haven’t done enough to cater to the mobile phone market.
What Microsoft is saying
- The notion that users have a choice is “bogus”. People simply use whichever search engine that is the default.
- They’re prepared to pay $15bn to Apple for an agreement to replace Google as the default on iPhones.
- The judge asked Microsoft if AI can help, they said Google’s vicious cycle can be more vicious if default agreements are made.
I personally think the news is tied to another Big Tech news that I read this week - about the joint venture (in-discussion) between Open AI and Softbank to launch an AI phone. See here: https://www.ft.com/content/4c64ffc1-f57b-4e22-a4a5-f9f90a7419b7
Side note: I’m planning to learn more about private equity. I completed any PE-related courses on TCLA and I have a very foundational understanding inc some of the technical terms. But when researching news, I realise it’s not useful to look at sector-specific news, PE is not really sector-focused. I’m assuming it’s more effective to explore interest rate as it relates to the cost of a loan. Private credit is rising, alongside some basics of accounting like EBITDA, so will explore these too.
