Competition regulator blocks Friends Reunited sale
A good example of competition regulation in the news today. The OFT has referred ITV’s proposed disposal of Friends Reunited to the Competition Commission on the grounds that, post sale, there will be just two main competitors in the market for researching ancestry.
read more...»Pricing strategies and tactics under investigation
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to undertake a detailed investigation into methods of advertising and pricing goods and services online. This should prove to be a really interesting report when it is published in the summer of 2010, making it essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the variety of advertising pricing tactics and strategies being developed online.
read more...»Competition regulators nail the construction industry
The result of one of the OFT’s biggest-ever investigations. The OFT has fined 103 construction firms a total of £129.5m after finding them guilty of bid-rigging (a form of price fixing) on public sector contracts. Some of the UK’s best-known construction businesses have been fined. A terrific, topical example to use with students to illustrate illegal pricing strategies and tactics, and explain the nature of competition regulation.
Watch BBC video on OFT fining the bid-riggers
Changing the rulebook for competition referrals
The rapid creation of Lloyds HBOS has highlighted the role (or non-role in this case) of the competition regulators in the UK…
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