Publications
The Guardian exclusively reports that as US job market tightens Bechtel senior vice-president appeared to urge companies not to compete on salaries, arousing ‘real wage-fixing concerns. Open Markets Legal Director Sandeep Vaheesan tells The Guardian: “This type of activity is collusive or a prelude to collusion. At a minimum, the remarks should be treated as inviting rivals not to compete for workers.”
Read MoreGerald Berk reviews Open Markets Senior Fellow Matt Stoller's new book Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy on The American Prospect. He writes that Matt Stoller’s ‘Goliath’ seeks to recover and explain the anti-monopoly tradition of the 20th century, at a time when it is urgently needed in the 21st. "Democrats who seek to revitalize their party would do well to study Matt Stoller’s Goliath and incorporate—in a complex and thoughtful manner—its central teachings," Berk says.
Read MoreAxios Future analyzes why Walmart remains under the radar as big tech comes under scrutiny. “I don’t think anyone is paying attention to Walmart,” says Director of Enforcement Strategy, Sally Hubbard.
Read MorePOLITICO's Steve Overly reports that investigations from state attorneys general and federal agencies are causing a rift between free market conservatives and the party's more populist voices. He talks to Open Markets fellow Matt Stoller about the tech industry's waning influence. “People aren't afraid of them anymore" said Stoller. "It’s not that they don’t have power, they do have power. They don't carry the same level of fear."
Read MoreThe New York Times reports on the troubles facing WeWork C.E.O. Adam Neumann before his recent resignation. Reporters asked Open Markets Senior Fellow Matt Stoller for comment. “Investors saw through Lyft, and they saw through Uber as well,” Matt Stoller told the NYT. “This one has simply been rejected. Investors are saying, ‘We’re not going to tolerate this nonsense anymore.’”
Read MoreGQ Magazine's Elle Hardy writes that over the past decade, some of Silicon Valley's brightest ideas have evolved into the biggest, most powerful companies on the planet. Sarah Miller, deputy director of the Open Markets Institute, a think tank devoted to curbing big tech’s economic dominance, told her that firms are uniquely equipped to get away with breaching our trust. “Consumers don’t have any power in the way that they would in a functioning market, where if they’re unhappy with the way customers or workers are being treated, they can take their business elsewhere.”
Read MoreIn Washingtonian magazine, reporter Luke Mullins exposes Big Tech’s number one enemy: Open Markets Institute. As Mullins details, founder Barry Lynn and his team are shifting the debate over Big Tech, presenting potential antitrust solutions to challenge Silicon Valley’s monopoly power. The anti-trust movement has reached critical mass in Washington, writes Mullins. Barry Lynn and his allies helped put it there.
Read MoreThe L.A. Times' Suhauna Hussain reports on the announcement that 50 attorneys general from 48 states and two U.S. territories have launched a probe into Google's monopolistic power and asks Open Markets Legal Director Sandeep Vaheesan to weigh in. “I think the states have sort of lost their patience” with the federal government, Vaheesan told her. “They’ve realized the administration might make some noises, but aren’t expecting any meaningful action. They believe they have to act or nobody will act against Facebook or Google.”
Read MoreWe can do better than fine companies that break the law, writes Vox's Emily Stewart. She speaks to Open Markets Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard about the recent developments with Facebook. “As long as it is profitable to break the law, corporations, which are profit-maximizing entities by design, will continue to break the law,” says Hubbard. “You actually need to go harder on the big guys, and it’s not a question of lack of authority, it’s a lack of political will.”
Read MoreThe Verge reports that 50 attorneys general from US states and territories signed onto an antitrust investigation into Google, placing even more pressure on the major tech firm that is already facing intense scrutiny over its market dominance from the government. They cite Open Markets' Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard's statement on the news: “We haven’t seen a major monopolization case against a tech giant since Microsoft was sued in 1998. Today’s announcement marks the start of a new era.”
Read MoreSalon’s Andrew Germanos reports on the multistate probe targetings Facebook’s antitrust violations. She sites a statement issued by Open Markets Deputy Director Sarah Miller.
Read MoreNBC News reports that many companies have cozied up to the nation’s capitol, but none have accrued the kind of reach and presence that Amazon will soon boast. Open Markets fellow Matt Stoller weighs in.
Read MoreOpen Markets Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard speaks with The Telegraph about what a big tech probe by the U.S. attorneys general would mean and how the law could be leveraged against Google. Any upcoming probe into Google would also rely on the Sherman Act, and proving that the search giant has both “monopoly power and exclusionary conduct” says Hubbard.
Read MoreThe FTC could do more to punish companies like Google and Facebook over privacy violations. But the bigger problem is that Congress continues to do nothing at all. "Often the problem with privacy issues is that the FTC's authority is limited, but here the FTC's authority under COPPA is ample," says Sally Hubbard, director of strategic enforcement at the nonprofit Open Markets Institute told WIRED.
Read MorePOLITICO's Nancy Scola and Margaret Harding McGill report that U.S. news companies are using a playbook from Europe to challenge the online platforms they see as an existential threat. They speak to Open Markets Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard who says "I think the bargaining power between any individual publisher and a tech platform is just too vast.”
Read MoreJalopnik reporters Dhruv Mehrotra and Aaron Gordon publish an investigation showing just how much money Uber and Lyft take from their drivers. They speak to Open Markets Legal Director Sandeep Vaheesan who told them: “This is really fascinating and troubling,” Vaheesan went on to say the findings “support the argument that their business model is built on large scale labor exploitation.”
Read MoreBloomberg reporters John Gittelsohn and Gerrit De Vynck reports on how CapitalG, a private investment arm of Alphabet has been in all the right places lately, generating billions of dollars in gains. The success is raising questions about the company’s strategy and sprawling influence over the technology industry. They speak with Open Markets Senior Fellow Matt Stoller who told them: “Deal flow gives you a lot of insight into what other people are doing in the market.”
Read MoreBenefits Pro reporter Scott Woolridge reports that the consolidation of market share in health-related industries has happened largely under the radar. He cites Open Markets' American Concentration Crisis report and interviews Executive Director Barry Lynn on how consolidation is impacting every day Americans. “This stuff could be fixed by the DOJ and the FTC tomorrow,” he says. “There is an ample amount of power in federal and state governments to address this, it’s just not being used.”
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