Amazon's $4 billion investment in AI firm Anthropic faces U.K. merger investigation
LONDON — E-commerce giant Amazon’s multibillion-dollar investment in the U.S. artificial intelligence firm Anthropic is formally being investigated by a U.K. competition regulator.
LONDON — E-commerce giant Amazon’s multibillion-dollar investment in the U.S. artificial intelligence firm Anthropic is formally being investigated by a U.K. competition regulator.
The Competition and Markets Authority said Thursday that it has begun a “Phase 1” investigation into Amazon’s investment and partnership with Anthropic to assess whether the deal has resulted in a relevant merger situation that may harm competition in the U.K.
Following initial scrutiny into the Amazon-Anthropic partnership, the CMA now has “sufficient information” in relation to the tie-up to begin a formal probe, the regulator said in a notice on its website.
The CMA now has up to 40 working days to decide whether the transaction could harm competition and should therefore be scrutinized further in an in-depth “Phase 2” investigation.
Amazon completed in March a $4 billion investment in Anthropic. The deal consisted of an initial $1.25 billion equity stake in September, followed by a further $2.75 billion transaction finalized earlier this year.
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