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Here below you find the most read articles on CompetitionFeed over the last week.

SKY NEWS

Sainsbury's and Asda challenge CMA over merger probe

The supermarkets say they have made repeated requests for extra time to respond to the CMA probe into their tie-up. Read More.

REUTERS

EU opens $22 billion Vodafone, Liberty Global deal inquiry

Vodafone’s (VOD.L) purchase of Liberty Global’s (LBTYA.O) assets in Germany and east Europe may damage competition in Germany and the Czech Republic, EU antitrust regulators said on Tuesday, as they opened a full-scale probe into the $21.8 billion deal. Read More.

Bundeskartellamt

Sector inquiry into online comparison websites

Today the Bundeskartellamt presented the results of its sector inquiry into online comparison websites. The inquiry into a large number of comparison websites from the areas of travel, energy, insurance, telecommunications and financial services has in some areas confirmed the suspicions of consumer rights violations. Read More.

FTC

Acquisitions Involving Ownership Interests in Competing Companies

Steve Salop
The day’s panels examined concerns that acquisitions and holdings of non-controlling ownership interests in competing companies, for example by institutional investors, may have anticompetitive effects. Read More.

CMA

Airport services merger receives provisional clearance

Menzies’ purchase of Airline Services given provisional green light following in-depth CMA investigation. Read More.

The New York Times

A Look at Competition in Business Urges Us to Think Small

These are fraught times, and while you may be scared, Tim Wu suggests that you may not be scared enough. Read More.

Chillin'Competition

Servier and the myth that one could not challenge market definition

Pablo Ibáñez Colomo
We have not yet had time to read carefully analyze the Servier Judgment rendered today by the General Court and I’m afraid we’ll need the weekend to process a few hundred pages in French and to comment on the many interesting points it surely raises. Read More.

International Journal of Industrial Organization

The antitrust prohibition of excessive pricing

David Gilo and Yossi Spiegel
• Excessive pricing by a dominant firm is unlawful in many countries.
• To assess whether it is excessive, the dominant firm’s price is often compared with price benchmarks.
• We examine the competitive implications of two such benchmarks: a retrospective benchmark and a contemporaneous benchmark.
• The benchmarks lower the monopoly price, but soften competition when the dominant firm competes.
• A retrospective benchmark promotes entry, but may lead to inefficient entry. Read More.

George Mason Law & Economics Research Paper No. 18-38

Square and Round Customers: Defining Geographic Markets with Willingness to Travel Circles

Shawn W. Ulrick, Seth B. Sacher, Paul R. Zimmerman and John M. Yun
Issues of spatial competition play a key role in many antitrust matters in terms of both defining relevant markets and evaluating competitive effects. Read More.

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