BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Lufthansa's bid for a minority stake in ITA Airways could reduce competition in flights to and from Italy, EU antitrust regulators warned on Tuesday, ramping up pressure on the German carrier to offer stronger remedies. Lufthansa wants to acquire a 41% stake in the state-owned Italian carrier for 325 million euros ($353 million) as part of a capital increase. The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation, saying the deal could reduce competition in passenger air transport services on several short-haul and long-haul routes.
Microsoft s search engine Bing, brower Edge and advertising services are likely to be out of the purview of Europe s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Microsoft's tie-up with the ChatGPT maker has raised antitrust scrutiny after the U.S. software giant committed to invest over $10 billion into OpenAI last year. Earlier this month, EU antitrust regulators flagged that Microsoft's investment in OpenAI might be reviewable under European Union merger rules, after a similar warning was placed by Britain's antitrust regulator in December.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -British Airways owner IAG expects EU antitrust regulators to open a full-scale investigation into its plan to buy Spain's Air Europa and will offer remedies to address their concerns, IAG's chief executive said on Tuesday. The deal is part of a wave of consolidation in the airline sector, with Germany's Lufthansa seeking to buy a minority stake in Italy's state-owned ITA Airways, and Korean Air looking to buy Asiana. EU regulators have recently taken a tougher line when deciding whether to approve deals, and now sometimes want acquiring airlines to divest assets and not just give up some routes or airport slots to address competition concerns.