U.S. social networking giant Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has reportedly won approval from EU antitrust authorities for its acquisition of U.S. customer relationship management firm Kustomer, provided that Meta makes some compromises that allow rivals to continue to use the Internet for free for the next decade. Acquire the company’s communication channel capabilities.
The European Commission, the European Union’s (antitrust) executive body, said the compromise made by Meta addressed EU concerns that the deal would monopolize the market. Meta is close to obtaining conditional approval from the European Commission for the acquisition, the media reported last month.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust chief, said in a statement that today’s decision by the European Commission ensures that innovative competitors and newcomers to the customer relationship management software space can compete effectively.
According to reports, Kustomer mainly sells customer relationship management software to businesses, so that businesses can communicate with customers through a variety of communication channels, including phone calls, emails, text messages, mainstream mobile chat tools WhatsApp, Instagram and other tools.
During the global new crown epidemic, Meta’s mobile chat tool WhatsApp has experienced a surge in global usage. According to analysis, this acquisition will help Meta expand this product. It should be pointed out that in the United States and Europe, the “buying and buying” of small startups by large companies has caused concern and vigilance among antitrust regulators.
Regulators are concerned that such an acquisition actually eliminates a future competitor ahead of time, and the acquirer no longer has to worry about the emergence of a threatening competitor in the future market.