Google has trouble purchasing ITA Software

Back in early July, a message appeared on Habré about another Google purchase. This time, the corporation is going to acquire a venture enterprise, among which the main shareholders are the funds General Catalyst Partner and Sequoia Capital. This fund has collected a total of 111.4 million US dollars of investments. So, Google was going to buy this company, and the implementation of the transaction was in full swing, but then the US authorities, or rather, the Department of Justice, intervened from nowhere .

According to this Ministry, this transaction is dangerous for two reasons at once. The first lies in the fact that Google is going to buy a company that is the main manufacturer of software for travel sites and related electronic support systems. This, from the point of view of legislators, is in itself a threat. In addition, the US authorities believe that after the purchase, Google may well demonstrate the results of ITA Software data in the search results of its service (in principle, of course, why did this company google to send employees to the resorts?). If this is really done, the rest of the companies providing similar data to the tourism business will quietly sink away in the shadow of a giant. It is clear that this is contrary to antimonopoly legislation.
')
The opinion of officials is really based on a decent source - after all, the corporation itself has already reported, albeit with hints, that it intends to develop the Universal Search system, which will provide commercial data for users all over the world. This will significantly narrow the boundaries of the relevant market, and other companies will remain outside the borders, that is, they will be destroyed.

One of the competitors, Expedia.com, still opposed such a purchase last month, lobbying for legislative blocking of this transaction. The second way to protect themselves from ruin is the competitors consider Google’s severe restriction of opportunities after the transaction, if it takes place.

All this led to the fact that the US authorities began large-scale proceedings, and Google received a second request from the Ministry, which asks for more information to study this issue. The actions of the team of lawmakers from the United States are closely watched by their colleagues from Europe - it’s no secret that the European Commission often copies the decisions of American judges in similar proceedings.

Google management is not particularly concerned about this trial, saying that quite recently the same thing happened with DoubleClick and AdMob, and both cases were completed in favor of the corporation.

Well, we can only wait, trying to guess what decision the US Department of Justice will make. In principle, such proceedings happen more often, and it pleases that the legislators still keep order, creating at least its appearance ...

A source