Skip to Content

WaPo: DOJ preparing antitrust probe for Apple, among others

Apple, Google, Yahoo! and Genentech are subjects of a fresh antitrust investigation surrounding hiring and recruiting practices among companies in the tech industry, according to Washington Post staff writer Cecilia Kang.

"By agreeing not to hire away top talent, the companies could be stifling competition and trying to maintain their market power unfairly," antitrust experts said in the article. Hiring and recruiting can sometimes be a touchy affair, as Apple found out late last year when trying to hire Mark Papermaster. The investigation may suggest some kind of written agreement among large tech firms to not hire away each other's top talent.

According to the New York Times, Justice has only requested documents for the ongoing investigation. Neither the Justice Department nor any of the companies mentioned in the story had any comment.

This comes in addition to another Justice investigation into ties between the boards of directors of Apple and Google, and whether or not having Google CEO Eric Schmidt on both (and Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson on all three) constitutes antitrust violations. Some consider Apple and Google to be competitors in certain areas such as phone handsets.

The Obama administration is stepping up efforts to investigate anti-competitive activity among high-tech companies, and is already investigating Google's deal with book authors to republish their work via Google Books.

[Via AppleInsider]



Apple, Google, Yahoo! and Genentech are subjects of a fresh antitrust investigation surrounding hiring and recruiting practices among...
 

Add a Comment

*0 / 3000 Character Maximum

9 Comments

Filter by:
216

No. No one that lives in the DMV (aka the DC Metro) refers to the Washington Post as "WaPo". Even though, after looking at the title, I still knew they were talking about the Washington Post before i saw the article

June 03 2009 at 3:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Martin

Do people really call the Washington Post "WaPo?" I don't think I could bring myself to do that.

June 03 2009 at 1:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
wheels

Does this mean that anti-compete clauses in employee contracts are going to be done away with too? I doubt it. While I understand the fundamental difference between what's going on here and an employee non-compete clause, they both accomplish the same rudimentary thing. In my view, in a true capitalist, competitive, society, neither of these types of things should be allowed.

June 03 2009 at 12:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to wheels's comment
RadicalxEdward

I gotta say, I for one wouldn't mind some kind of open letter from tuaw explaining why someone can have an appleinsider and engadget rss feed, and never need to visit TUAW. It's like the writers just sit on those two sites waiting for apple news, and then post it when they get around to it. It's nice seeing an app review every once in a while, but thats pretty much all tuaw offers. and i know i'm not the first who's mentioned this.

June 03 2009 at 11:48 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to RadicalxEdward's comment
oliver hart

Every other story on engadget is about a netbook.


If you don't like it then quit bitching and leave.

June 03 2009 at 12:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
216

And if the story's not about a netbook its probably about a supposed Apple netbook/why Apple won't make a netbook

June 03 2009 at 3:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Buy an ad here

Hot Apps on TUAW

Tweets

© 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.