The competition watchdog has taken out initial enforcement order to prevent the planned merger of food delivery firms Just Eat and Takeaway.com
The Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into the proposed merger last week but has now acted to pause the £5.9bn tie-up, so they do not merge and are then forced to separate again if the CMA blocks the takeover.
The Competition and Markets Authority has ordered ticket resale firm StubHub to change its site because it could be breaking consumer law.
The CMA said it is concerned that StubHub has been:
"StubHub had previously committed to make important changes to the information on its site, so anyone buying a ticket would know what they were getting before parting with their money. It’s therefore unacceptable that we have now found these concerns," said CMA chief Andrea Coscelli.
The site was bought by rival Viagogo in a $4bn deal last November, but that takeover remains under investigation by the CMA.
A key investor reacts angrily to news of a competition inquiry into the planned £5.9bn deal.
Read more
BBC Radio 5 Live
Wake Up to Money
The UK's competition regulator has said that it's launching an investigation into the proposed merger between food delivery giants Just Eat and Takeaway.com.
This could put a spanner in the works for the Takeaway.com, which had won a bottle for the UK-listed Just Eat with a £5.9bn all-share offer.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, told Wake Up to Money that the regulator "seems to be interested in whether or not Takeaway.com would have re-entered the UK market, as it pulled out three years ago, had it not done this deal.
"To me, that seems like a bit of a technicality. But they're obviously taking it pretty seriously and they've decided to intervene right at the last minute.
"It's a very competitive market, and it's not as if there's only a few ways people can eat. But clearly, this bit of the market is growing incredibly quickly and the regulator wants to make sure consumers are getting a fair deal out of it."
Pub group Stonegate Pub, which owns the Slug and Lettuce chain, announced in July it was buying rival Ei Group - once known as Enterprise Inns - for £1.3bn.
The Competition and Markets Authority said earlier this month it was concerned there might be a "substantial lessening of competition within a market or markets in the United Kingdom".
Stonegate has now offered "undertakings" to the competition watchdog and the CMA says "there are reasonable grounds for believing that the undertaking offered, or a modified version of it, might be accepted by the CMA to remedy the substantial lessening of competition identified by the CMA."
The CMA now has until 19 February 2020 to decide whether to accept the pledges.
Competition watchdog's comments come amid reports of government plans to regulate big tech.
Read moreWith its interim market study report on digital advertising, the Competition and Markets Authority signalled its desire for a new regulatory regime for tech platforms in the digital advertising market, but looks minded not to proceed with an in-depth market investigation of the sector at this stage. While the report identified a range of potential concerns as well as potential remedies, the CMA cited the risk of cutting across government regulation as well as the global nature of the conduct under scrutiny as key factors in its preliminary conclusion that a market investigation would not be appropriate.
More on that Competition and Markets Authority report on Google and Facebook.
The competition watchdog said was concerned about a lack of transparency in the way that the businesses operate. Publishers such as newspapers, which rely on the two platforms for about 40% of their traffic, have expressed concerns to the CMA about "unexplained dramatic changes" in visits to their website when Google and Facebook change their algorithms, the watchdog said.
The CMA said there is there is a strong argument for the development of a new regulatory regime, which could include rules governing the behaviour of online platforms and giving people greater control over their own data.
But it says it "stands ready" to act directly through any or all of its own powers.
The CMA is asking for comments on its report and says the findings will be presented to the new government.
The Competition and Markets Authority says that the·market position of Google and Facebook may potentially undermine the ability of newspapers and other publishers to produce valuable content as their share of revenues is squeezed by large platforms.
Publishing an update on its analysis of digital advertising, the competition watchdog says Google accounted for more than 90% of all revenues earned from search advertising in the UK, with revenues of around £6bn, while Facebook received almost half of all display advertising revenues in the UK, of more than £2bn.
“Most of us visit social media sites and search on the internet every day, but how these firms work can be a mystery," said Andrea Coscelli, chief executive, of the CMA.
"Digital advertising fuels big businesses like Google and Facebook and we have been building a picture of how this complex new market works. We’ve looked especially at how these firms collect and use people’s data, how they monetise it and what this means for rival companies who want to compete, as well as the people and businesses using these services every day," he said.
Three Berkshire estate agents will pay fines of £605,000 between them after the CMA investigation.
Read more