UK Clears Microsoft’s Investment in OpenAI
**UK Clears Microsoft's Investment in OpenAI**
By Aaron Holmes
4 hours ago
Source: The Information
Microsoft's commitment to invest more than $13 billion in OpenAI won't trigger an antitrust investigation in the UK, the country's antitrust regulator said Wednesday. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority found that Microsoft's investment in OpenAI granted it "material influence" over the startup but not "de facto control," meaning that the deal isn't subject to the country's merger rules, CMA director Joel Bamford said in a statement.
The decision means Microsoft has cleared one prong of regulatory scrutiny over its investment in the startup even as other regulators including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission question whether the deal, which involves extensive technology licensing and revenue sharing, gives it an unfair advantage in the artificial intelligence and cloud computing markets.