Regulators Scrutinize Microsoft-OpenAI Partnership; Shein’s IPO Hurdles

You knew it was just a matter of time. Regulators in the U.K. and U.S. are looking into the antitrust implications of Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI, according to the U.K. regulator and Bloomberg. Yes, that’s right. A partnership that poses a serious competitive threat to Google—whose dominance of internet search and advertising is the subject of several antitrust lawsuits—is itself potentially a problem for antitrust regulators. You’d think the bureaucrats at the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission would leave well enough alone!

Before they spend too much time on this subject, regulators should catch up on The Information’s coverage of the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI, which is complicated, to say the least. Microsoft is a big investor in OpenAI, giving it the right to sell the company’s software. At the same time, though, Microsoft also competes with OpenAI for business customers. As we’ve reported, at times Microsoft and OpenAI are “pitching the same customers on nearly identical products.” Microsoft has even announced plans to give customers of its Azure cloud access to large language models from Cohere, Meta Platforms and others that compete with OpenAI.