Competition pleased – raid on Red Bull: It’s about market power

According to insiders, the visit of the EU competition watchdog to Red Bull is likely to be related to the company’s market power. This is also indicated by the fact that house searches only took place at Red Bull. In the case of classic cartels and price fixing, raids on several companies usually take place at the same time. It is considered probable that the authority has received indications of competition violations. Competitor Monster Energy welcomed the investigation.

In principle, the EU Commission can initiate investigations on its own initiative, or it follows up on information and complaints. In Tuesday’s press release, the Commission referred to both Article 101 (cartel formation) and Article 102 (abuse of market power). It is not known whether there is a key witness in the investigation. House searches in several countries Red Bull and the EU competition authority have so far held back with information. Red Bull confirmed on Tuesday that it had received visits from EU officials and employees of Austria’s federal competition authority and stressed that it was working with the authorities. The raids began on Monday and took place in several European countries, not only at the headquarters in Fuschl am See in Salzburg. According to a report by specialist service MLex, the allegations focus on Red Bull’s dealings with retailers and that the company tried to secure advantageous treatment of its own beverages to the detriment of its competitors. Red Bull is number one in Europe for energy drinks, but faces competition from other manufacturers looking to gain market share.Monster Energy: “Consumers are deprived of the benefits of our core offering”The main competitor is Monster Energy from the USA. There, the cartel investigations against Red Bull were welcomed in a statement. “We believe that Red Bull’s deliberate use of anti-competitive tactics unfairly deprives consumers of the benefits of our core offering. We are therefore not surprised that the European Commission has launched an investigation and we support their investigations,” the company, in which Coca-Cola has a stake, announced on Tuesday judge a company is not unusual, especially when it comes to allegations of abuse of market power. Current examples of this are the investigations against Apple, which affect the App Store and Apple Pay.
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