Podcast Selection

The UK’s move in competition policy

Since Brexit, the UK Competition and Markets Authority has regained its status as a prominent competition enforcer. As the British Parliament is set to adopt a bill that will increase the CMA’s powers and introduce…

Bundeskartellamt vs Meta: what now?

The European Court of Justice recently ruled on a high-profile case with far-reaching consequences for enforcement in the fields of competition and data protection. We have discussed the verdict’s implications with Cristina Caffarra, renowned competition expert, and Johnny Ryan, senior…

What about Microsoft? (Part 2)

The European Commission’s cases against Microsoft in the 2000s set the framework for the assessment of abusive conduct related to product integration and interoperability, and Microsoft became the first “big tech” company with direct experience…

What about Microsoft? (Part 1)

Depending on the day of the week, Microsoft is the most valuable company in the world, or at least in the top 5. It’s one of GAFAM, the five “big tech” companies presumptively labeled as…

Gaming Industry Consolidation

At the start of 2022, the gaming market was shaken up by a series of acquisitions, including Microsoft/Activison Blizard, Sony/Bungee and – last but not least – New York Times/Wordle. In this episode, we examine…

The CMA’s FB/GIPHY Decision

In May 2020, Facebook (now Meta) acquired the gif library GIPHY. The UK’s competition authority (the CMA) started investigating the merger and finally, in November 2021, ordered Facebook to sell GIPHY again. In this episode,…

The European clash over regulating killer acquisitions; the White House takes on corruption

Killer acquisitions are back on the agenda — and it’s disrupting the European Union’s review of an acquisition by Meta, the parent company of Facebook. Germany’s competition regulator has decided to do its own review…

A new consensus for economic resilience

"Is there a need for systemic reform of global economic governance? The Washington Consensus, first devised in 1989, is an economic paradigm that was reflected in the prevailing economic thinking as well as policy recommendations.…

Episode 91: Climate geopolitics, and legal justice for global warming

As the first week of the UN climate change summit, COP26, takes place in Glasgow, Ben and Mariana return with two contrasting interviews on the climate crisis. Ben speaks to Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister…

The Google Android Appeal Hearing

In this episode, we walk through the General Court hearing in the Google Android case, which took place in Luxembourg from 27 September until 1 October. Google appealed to the General Court the European Commission’s…

The Vertical Block Exemption (VBER) Review

In this episode, we look at the Commission's draft Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and associated Guidelines, which are set to replace the existing 11 year old legislation in advance of its expiration. The Commission…

Google’s Commitments and Designer Antitrust

In this episode, we dive into Google’s latest antitrust commitments in Europe. In June, we saw commitment decisions on Google’s ad-tech stack and its planned ‘Privacy Sandbox’ (under French and UK competition authorities' oversight) as…