Overview
On September 4, 2024, Global Competition Review quoted Ronan Scanlan in an article titled, "CMA Clears Microsoft/Inflection AI, Confirms Broad Merger Powers." The article discusses how The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has waved through Microsoft's hiring of key Inflection AI employees, after a six-month investigation and in doing so also confirmed its broad jurisdiction to call in deals.
Speaking to Global Competition Review about the ruling Scanlan said: that "this could lead to a vast number of companies having to self-assess whether their hiring of employees could constitute a notifiable merger that might be called in by the CMA."
He also queried whether lengthy merger investigations were the best way to understand emerging markets and noted that, "there may well be more proportionate and resource-effective ways for the CMA to reach the same conclusions, that are less time consuming and burdensome on the CMA and companies alike, such as a 'quick look' allowing the CMA to stress-test parties’ submissions with companies and customers without undertaking a full-scale Phase 1 investigation."
