JOINT ECON-S&P: The Facebook-Giphy merger; Professor Yossi Spiegel (Tel Aviv University)

Abstract

I examine the Facebook-Giphy merger which the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked in 2022. The CMA’s decision marks the first time that an antitrust agency has blocked a big tech acquisition and suggests that at least some antitrust agencies are willing to take a tougher stance on mergers in the digital sector. The decision has a number of interesting features which I discuss in the paper.

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