The European Commission wanted to ensure that the latest acquisition of Meta, parent company of Facebook
, did not breach the EU Merger Regulation. After a passing examination, she validated the takeover of Kustomer by the American giant.
Last summer, the European Commission became aware of the proposed acquisition of Kustomer by Meta, then still called Facebook, giving birth in the wake of an investigation which ended this week. After several months of study, Brussels sees no problem with Mark Zuckerberg’s firm buying the American BtoC company specializing in customer relationship management.
The Commission feared that Meta would disrupt the market in which Kustomer operates and take the opportunity to strengthen its position in online advertising
The European Union feared that the takeover would breach EU merger regulations, that the acquisition would reduce competition in the market for the provision of customer relationship management software. The Commission also feared that this takeover would further strengthen Meta’s position in the online advertising market, in the sense that the company would have had access to new data to personalize ads and better target Internet users.
Brussels has a time estimate that Meta could conduct foreclosure strategies that work against competitors operating in Kustomer’s market, and make it more difficult for new entrants to enter. The dreaded lockdown strategies could have resulted in “ higher prices, lower quality and less innovation for professional customers, especially small and medium-sized ones, which could then affect consumers “, explains the authority.
” The commitments offered by Meta ensure that its competitors will continue to have free and comparable access to its important messaging channels said Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president for competition policy. What caught the EU’s ears was the small size of Kustomer, which reports rapid growth in the market for providing customer service and support software for customer relationship management. Which is reminiscent of some past acquisitions.
Meta makes commitments, to avoid disadvantaging the competitors of its new baby
The software applications provided by Kustomer, an American company founded in 2015, are now requested by companies to exchange with their customers, in order to answer their questions, solve possible problems and give them advice. The company offers a SaaS, customer software as a service, which displays all of the interactions a customer may have had with the company, including purchase history, refunds, complaints and all other customer communications.
Kustomer’s software deploys to a wide range of consumer-facing communications, and supports agent communications with customers through various communication channels, such as traditional email, SMS, phone, or online forum, as well as tools like WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and Twitter.
To reassure Brussels, Meta has undertaken, for a period of six years, to guarantee competition non-discriminatory and free access to its public APIs for its messaging services, as well as a commitment to equal access to the APIs of based. This means that if Meta improves or updates features of Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp used by Kustomer’s customers, the company will have to provide Kustomer’s competitors and new market entrants with equivalent features. The EU has indicated that an agent would monitor the implementation of the commitments made by the Californian firm.
Source: European Commission
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