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Google, Yahoo!, Apple Targeted In DoJ Antitrust Probe

Posted by Soulskill on from the hand-in-the-cookie-jar dept.

suraj.sun writes with this excerpt from the Washington Post: "The Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether some of the nation's largest technology companies violated antitrust laws by negotiating the recruiting and hiring of one another's employees, according to two sources with knowledge of the review. The review, which is said to be in its preliminary stages, is focused on Google; its competitor Yahoo; Apple; and the biotech firm Genentech, among others, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The sources said the review includes other tech companies and is 'industry-wide.' By agreeing not to hire away top talent, the companies could be stifling competition and trying to maintain their market power unfairly, antitrust experts said. ... Obama's antitrust chief at the Justice Department, Christine Varney, has said she plans to look at the network effects of high-tech companies and how their grasp on markets has cut out competitors and hurt consumers."

1 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Seriously? by harryandthehenderson · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    but I'm really sick to death of how video games for PCs are usually only available for Windows.

    Can you really blame them for only wanting to develop for a platform that will actually be profitable? Yes, it does suck that there is a dearth of Linux games, but that's just the way it is. If Linux got a bigger marketshare then you might see more attention, but game companies aren't going to develop for every fringe desktop OS when it isn't going to make them anything but a negligible amount of money.

    Obviously I have no proof of infringing behavior, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that MS is engaging in some anti-competitive practices in this area to shut out competing platforms from the PC gaming market.

    Or *gasp* maybe it has to do with the fact that it's completely not worth their time and money to make games for an OS that constitutes less than 1% of all desktops. Considering the fact that Macs get games would clearly show that your claim is wrong since Apple is one of Microsoft's most fierce competitors.