Is South East Water’s £22m fine a step towards total renationalisation? Opinion The total mess that Thames Water and South East Water find themselves in – which touch on issues of environmental neglect, underinvestment in critical infrastructure, the limits of privatisation and the role of shareholders in utility companies that operate an effective monopoly – could be a harbinger of what’s to come, says Brett Israel Last [...]
Do not pass Go without learning these lessons from 90 years of Monopoly Opinion Wishing the iconic boardgame that makes capitalism fun a very happy birthday… Monopoly, the board game that has been the cause of family arguments across the world, is turning 90. It’s the game that proves big moves start with a roll of the dice and, if you’re really lucky, ends with property on Park Lane. [...]
Google faces £25bn UK lawsuit over ad monopoly claims Tech Google is facing a £25bn legal claim in the UK, as a new lawsuit accuses the tech giant of abusing its dominant position in the online search advertising market, driving up prices for UK advertisers over more than a decade. The claim, filed with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) and led by Roger Kaye KC, [...]
Google pays up as antitrust scrutiny heightens May 13, 2025 Google’s recent settlement of $1.38bn (£1.05bn) with the state of Texas marks a significant moment in the tech titan’s ongoing legal battles over both privacy violations and anti-competitive practices. The settlement, which resolves two major lawsuits filed in 2022, accused Google of secretly collecting biometric data such as facial recognition and local tracking, without user [...]
Cook: ‘Upmarket ready meal business is like a 27-year game of Monopoly’ December 16, 2024 Upmarket ready meal maker Cook has compared its financial position to a near-three decade long game of Monopoly as it hailed being in “the best shape it has been in for a long while”. The Kent-headquartered business said that it if the firm was a 27-year game of Monopoly, “we would now be in a [...]
Google break-up on the table in US antitrust case October 9, 2024 The US government is weighing up a break-up of Google in an attempt to end its monopoly over much of the internet. The US Department of Justice has said that it was considering asking a judge to impose “structural requirements” on the tech giant to prevent it from maintaining its dominance on search. “Fully remedying [...]
Is Google a monopoly? Sort of, but that’s the free market August 20, 2024 How about a little trust in the dynamism of the free market? Writes Matthew Feeney