UK antitrust watchdog looks into Microsoft's $19.7-billion Nuance deal

• The acquisition deal is the second-largest by Microsoft after it bought LinkedIn in 2016

• CMA has invited interested parties to comment on the deal by January 10, 2022

UK antitrust regulator on Monday said it would look into Microsoft Corp’s $19.7 billion acquisition of artificial intelligence and speech-to-text firm Nuance Communications Inc.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of the UK, which has been stepping up its regulation against Big Tech, said it is considering if the deal would result in lesser competition in the market.

The British regulator will open the first phase of the investigation after assessing whether there are reasons to be worried about the proposed deal.

Although there’s no stated timeframe for the assessment, the CMA has invited interested parties to comment by January 10 of the following year.

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In a statement, the CMA said it is “considering whether it is or may be the case that this transaction if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 and, if so, whether the creation of that situation may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services”.

Nuance deal

In April, Microsoft announced it would acquire Nuance to strengthen its presence in cloud services for the healthcare vertical — where Nuance developed several clinician-support products like tech for documenting telehealth visits, a speech recognition tool for clinical documentation, and AI-powered radiology reporting.

The deal has already received regulatory approval in the U.S. and Australia.

Last week Reuters reported the acquisition deal, which will be Microsoft’s second-biggest after its 2016 purchase of LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, is set to secure unconditional EU antitrust approval.

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Microsoft has been in preliminary talks with the CMA ahead of a formal request for approval of the Nuance deal, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

UK regulation against Big Tech

The UK is in the process of revising domestic competition law to protect smaller innovators from the market muscle of Big Tech.

Last month, the CMA ordered Meta Platforms Inc, formerly known as Facebook, to sell the social-media animated-images startup Giphy after determining that the transaction might hurt social media users and UK advertisers.

Picture Credit: PYMNTS