EU Versus American Tech

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/12/eu-versus-american-tech

Bloomberg News's Matthew Lynn has a column skeptical of all the antitrust cases that the European Union has been bringing lately against American technology companies:

What exactly is the European Union's beef with America's best technology companies?

Last week, the EU opened an investigation into Google Inc. for allegedly discriminating against competing services in its search results. Last year, it hit Intel Corp. with a 1.06 billion euro ($1.33 billion) fine. Earlier this decade, Microsoft Corp. got socked with a fine by the EU of almost 500 million euros....

the EU's trust-busters don't seem to have much of a clue as to the difference between a monopoly and a really, really successful company....IBM looked like a monopoly for a long time, before getting whacked by Microsoft and a host of companies that could make computers cheaper. Then Microsoft looked all-powerful, until the arrival of Google and the revival of Apple Inc. Google may seem dominant now, but Facebook is gaining ground fast....

Rival entrepreneurs are likely to crack the monopoly, if that is what it is, far faster than any functionary in Brussels....The EU would be better off spending its time and money thinking about how Europe could start producing a few more technology giants, rather than attacking the American ones.

Good column.

Disclosure: I own some Google shares.

by Ira Stoll  |  Dec 7, 2010 at 9:46 am Related Topics:  Europe, Google receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list