Contrary Research Rundown #106
Google is back in the DoJ's sights with a new antitrust filing, plus new memos on AlphaSense and Calendly.
Research Rundown
One of the defining market trends of the 2020s has been the strict anti-monopoly and antitrust stance taken by US, UK, and European regulators.
Since Lina Khan was sworn in as the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2021, she hasn’t shied away from challenging big tech companies on antitrust and anti-competitive grounds. Under Khan’s leadership, the FTC has sued or filed complaints to block:
NVIDIA from acquiring Arm in 2021
Lockheed Martin from acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne in 2022
Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard in 2022
Meta from acquiring VR company Within in 2022
Besides specific M&A complaints, the FTC also has ongoing antitrust suits against Amazon and Meta. The agency accused Amazon of fighting sellers’ efforts to offer products more cheaply on other marketplaces, while it alleges that Meta has engaged in an “illegal buy-or-bury scheme to maintain its dominance.”
The FTC hasn’t been alone in its stance against big tech monopolies. The UK’s Competition and Market Authority blocked Adobe’s acquisition of Figma in 2023, and it forced Meta to divest Giphy in 2022. Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in March 2024, accusing it of locking down its iPhone ecosystem to build a monopoly.
Now, Google is in the hot seat. In August 2024, the DoJ won a lawsuit against Google in which it had accused the search giant of monopolizing the online search and advertising markets. The DoJ’s complaint centered around Google’s revenue sharing agreements in which it paid tens of billions of dollars (including $26 billion in 2021 alone) annually to Apple, Mozilla, Samsung, and other companies to remain the default search engine on their devices. These preinstallation agreements effectively blocked competing search browsers from reaching device users, further entrenching Google’s dominant market position.
The DoJ is focused on evaluating remedies for Google’s monopoly charges, which it outlined in a filing on October 8. Some of these proposed remedies, such as making Google share its search data with competitors through an API or banning default and preinstallation agreements with device makers, seek to even the competitive landscape without altering Google’s business. However, the DoJ is also considering asking a federal judge to force Google to divest part of its business including “behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features.”
Ultimately, it will come down to a judge, not the DoJ, to determine which remedies are appropriate, and Cornell University law professor Erik Hovencamp noted that judges view breakups as extreme remedies that could have unintended consequences. However, even if Google survives this lawsuit unscathed, the search giant is still facing four other antitrust lawsuits, including a case in which the DoJ is accusing Google of monopolizing the ad-tech market, and the government is seeking to force Google to divest its Ad Manager product.
With Meta, Apple, and Amazon all facing their own antitrust suits right now, the outcomes of Google’s cases could set a precedent for how regulators will structure big tech antitrust remedies going forward.
AlphaSense is an AI-powered market intelligence platform that consolidates and analyzes financial data from various sources, including company filings, earnings calls, and expert interviews. To learn more, read our full memo here and check out some open roles below:
Software Development Engineer in Test (QA Automation) - Helsinki, Finland
Director of Design Systems (Knowledge Management) - New York, NY
Calendly is a cloud-based platform that automates the process of scheduling meetings by allowing users to share their availability through a customized link. To learn more, read our full memo here and check out some open roles below:
Senior Engineering Manager - Remote (US)
Senior Full Stack Engineer - Remote (US)
Check out some standout roles from this week.
Metronome | Remote - Software Engineer (Platform), Software Engineer (Full Stack)
Replicate | San Francisco, CA - Data Engineer, Infrastructure Engineer, Product Engineer
Hex | San Francisco, CA & New York, NY - AI Engineer, Product Engineering Lead, Fullstack Engineer (Hex Magic)
Headway | Remote - Director of Engineering (Patient), Senior Backend Software Engineer, Engineering Manager (Claims Engine)
Tavus | San Francisco, CA/Remote - AI Research Scientist, Software Engineer (ML), Staff Full Stack Software Engineer
Varda | El Segundo, CA - Trajectory Analysis Engineer, Senior Flight Software Engineer, Senior Electromechanical Engineer, Senior Integration & Test Engineer
Lambda, a cloud provider that offers GPU for AI training and inference, is partnering with ECL, the world’s first fully sustainable, hydrogen-powered, off-grid data center-as-a-service as the first customer.
The race to block OpenAI’s scraping bots is slowing down due to its “spree of licensing agreements.”
Anduril announced a partnership with FlackTek, a leader in high-velocity bladeless mixing and processing solutions, to develop and manufacture the Mega FlackTek.
Real-time voice agents that surf the internet can now be built using OpenAI's API.
Dave Clark, former co-CEO of Flexport, raised $100 million for his new venture, Auger. Auger is developing an AI-powered tool for supply chain that integrates with existing inventory management platforms for businesses.
Lumafield announced that its X-ray CT scanning technology will now take seconds rather than hours taken by conventional CT technology.
Hindenburg Research, a short-selling firm, reported that Roblox inflated user metrics to investors. It also stated that Roblox is favoring growth over child safety.
Ripple is progressing with its testing of the RLUSD stablecoin, minting 42 million units while simultaneously burning smaller amounts as part of the beta phase. It plans to launch RLUSD on Ethereum this year.
Zoom announced its plans to launch a feature where users can create photorealistic AI-generated avatars of themselves that can send messages to their teammates in early 2025.
Amazon announced a new AI-powered package retrieval technology for its electric vehicle fleet called Vision-Assisted Package Retrieval (VAPR). It works by highlighting packages with either a green or red light signaling which packages are to be delivered at each stop.
The 2024 State of AI Report highlighted that AI companies reached $9 trillion in enterprise value globally.
Dude Perfect, a sports and comedy entertainment group, raised over $100 million to expand beyond its social media presence into television. It also hired former NBA executive Andrew Yaffe as CEO.
OpenAI is projected to incur a $14 billion loss by 2026, with profitability expected by 2029.
Zap Energy unveiled its new fusion power prototype, Century, which uses a method called sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch to generate fusion. It’s working towards commercializing fusion power, with its current milestones centered on generating continuous, high-frequency plasma pulses and aiming for commercial plant deployment by the early 2030s.
Basecamp Research raised $60 million to build an AI agent that can answer questions related to biology and produce “new insights that humans could not achieve on their own.”
ByteDance is laying off hundreds of TikTok employees as it turns to AI for content moderation and expects to invest $2 billion in trust and safety globally in 2024.
Tesla's Robotaxi and humanoid robot launch event disappointed some investors who felt there was a lack of details on execution strategy and financial outlook.
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