Following the UK Office of Fair Trading’s decision not to refer Facebook’s proposed acquisition of Instagram to the Competition Commission (as we reported here), the US Federal Trade Commission has closed its investigation without taking any action.
The FTC announced its decision to close the non-public investigation earlier in the week (22 August) and sent brief letters to both companies saying that “it now appears that no further action is warranted by the Commission at this time”.
They also stated that closure of the investigation was “not to be construed as a determination that a violation may not have occurred” and reserved their right to “ take such further action as the public interest may require”.
On a related note, given the trajectory that Facebook’s share price has taken since the deal was first agreed to, ‘billion dollar baby’ really wasn’t the most accurate title for our initial post.
Photo credit: SodanieChea / Foter / CC BY
