EU Merger Reviews Seek to Scoop Up Big Firms’ Killer Deals
- EU will be able to scrutinize problematic low-revenue deals
- Regulators missed out on Facebook/Instagram review in 2012
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European Union regulators said they’ll review takeovers of innovative companies that make no money, allowing them to zero in on so-called killer acquisitions when big tech companies buy promising startups.
While the EU frequently reviews most of the world’s big deals, it missed on takeovers such as Facebook Inc.’s 2012 bid for photo-sharing site Instagram and other deals because its merger review guidelines didn’t let it scrutinize acquisitions of companies without large revenue streams.