The Antitrust Moving Target

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2011/02/the-antitrust-moving-target

Venture capitalist Mark Suster has an interview with an AOL Time Warner veteran, Tige Savage:

AOL was as big and infallible-seeming at Facebook is today. To think about these gigantic forces (AOL and Time Warner) combining bordered on monopoly. In hindsight, the concept of this failed merger being monopolistic sounds almost ludicrous.

You could delete the "almost." The article doesn't report how much time or legal fee and consultant money was spent getting antitrust approval at the time, but it's not money that the shareholders of either company ever get back.

This is something that the Obama administration's new tech antitrust adviser, Tim Wu, does not show many signs of understanding.

by Ira Stoll  |  Feb 14, 2011 at 8:33 am Related Topics:  Capital Markets Regulation receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list