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EU: EC Sent questionnaires about Microsoft-LinkedIn deal to rivals

By  |  October 23, 2016

In their review of Microsoft Corp.’s $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn Corp., European Union antitrust regulators are attempting to measure the rough value of the professional network’s data and whether rival sites can replicate it, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The European Commission, the bloc’s antitrust authority, has sent out questionnaires to competitors as part of its standard merger review process after the companies formally registered the deal with the EU last week, people familiar with the matter said.

The commission has previously said it would scrutinize mergers involving large amounts of data more closely, and may start reviewing deals involving smaller companies, especially in cases when a firm snaps up another just to get hold of its data.

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

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