Amazon Spared U.K. Antitrust Probe Over $4 Billion Investment in AI Startup Anthropic — Update

By Mauro Orru

U.K. antitrust officials said Amazon.com's multibillion-dollar investment in artificial-intelligence company Anthropic didn't qualify for a formal investigation, a win for U.S. Big Tech weeks after Microsoft was also spared a probe over its links to Inflection AI.

The U.K's Competition and Markets Authority launched a probe in August to determine whether Amazon's $4 billion investment in Anthropic posed a threat to competition in the country. Officials have now concluded that isn't the case and said they wouldn't open a formal investigation.

The investment handed Amazon a minority ownership position in Anthropic as part of efforts from the e-commerce giant to support AI startups it sees as promising in hopes to gain an edge on fierce competitors likes of Alphabet's Google, Microsoft and ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Google last year agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Anthropic.

British officials said they closed the case as they essentially lacked jurisdiction because Anthropic's revenue in the country didn't meet a threshold of 70 million pounds ($93.9 million) for target companies and because the combined activities of both Amazon and the startup didn't meet a certain share of goods or services threshold in the U.K.

The watchdog didn't reach a conclusion on whether the investment led to Amazon having material influence over Anthropic, but said it didn't believe the arrangement would create a relevant merger scenario. Amazon doesn't hold a board seat or decision-making powers at the startup.

An Amazon spokesperson said the group welcomed the decision, acknowledging the CMA's lack of jurisdiction. "By investing in Anthropic, we're helping to spur entry and competition in generative AI," the spokesperson said. An Anthropic spokesperson also welcomed the ruling, saying the startup remained an independent company as its strategic partnerships and investor relationships didn't diminish its corporate governance independence or its freedom to partner with other companies.

The decision from Britain's antitrust watchdog comes weeks after officials there also cleared Microsoft's hiring of former employees from Inflection AI and its partnership with the startup, offering some breathing space to U.S. tech giants over their ties to AI startups.

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into generative AI partnerships earlier this year, ordering companies to provide information regarding recent investments into startups. That probe includes Amazon and Anthropic as well as Microsoft and OpenAI.

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Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com

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September 27, 2024 08:40 ET (12:40 GMT)

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