Boston, MA 09/02/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Anti-trust officials of the European Union have bombarded the customers and competitors of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) as well as WhatsApp Inc. with a detailed questionnaire, for the second time. The move from EU is indicative of “something fishy” as this is seen as a very unusual act that might put into fix the proposed $19 billion takeover deal of latter by the former.
Facebook-WatsApp Deal Again under EU Lens
The purpose of sending such a detailed questionnaire signals that the anti-trust officials of EU are letting themselves be abreast with the notion that what segregates a social network from messaging app. By doing so, it is believed that the EU is forwarding towards the hub of competitive landscape. The questionnaire has been sent to a range of companies and has also been witnessed by The Wall Street Journal.
This move is also indicative of the fact that the EU is trying to again make a formal review of this proposed acquisition deal. However, this is most likely seen as a case study or test case on how EU competition law can be applied to the new-age social media. Also, EU’s action follows heightening concerns in Europe regarding U.S. technology companies’ power.
Questionnaire of the European Union came immediately after WatsApp and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) notified EU antitrust body in a formal manner about their deal on August 29, 2014.
Recipients of the questionnaire
Those who received this questionnaire from EU include other social networking sites, a few Internet service providers as well as the telecommunication operators, all of which were recognized by the anti-trust body of EU as customers or competitors of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and WatsApp in a minimum of one market at least.
The questionnaire included 70 pages, which is quite unusual. Also, it signals vulnerability to the proposed blockbuster deal. One of the EU antitrust lawyers, while talking to The Wall Street Journal, said, “It highlights [the merging parties’] soft underbelly.”
While Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and the European Commission did not comment on the same, WatsApp did not respond to The Wall Street Journal’s request for comment.
