Google’s $2 billion investment in Anthropic approved by the UK

Google and Anthropic’s partnership was under the radar of the UK antitrust regulators. Late last month, some reports suggested that Google is under scrutiny over its large investment in Anthropic. Fast forward to today, the UK has concluded the investigation and approved Google’s $2 billion investment in Anthropic.
The UK antitrust regulator approves Google’s $2 billion investment in Anthropic
Today, Bloomberg reported that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded the investigation stating that Google’s investment hasn’t allowed it to acquire “material influence” over Anthropic. The investment cleared by the UK gives Google non-voting shares and consultation rights on Anthropic’s business issues.
On top of that, the UK’s antitrust agency has also officially ended the investigation of the Google-Anthropic partnership which it announced last month. As both companies work towards AI development, the CMA reportedly had concerns about an “interconnected web” of partnerships and investments.
The investigating agency reportedly said that Google’s investment in Anthropic doesn’t qualify for a full probe according to merger rules. Following the announcement of findings, an Anthropic spokesperson said, “Anthropic is an independent company, and our strategic partnerships and investor relationships do not diminish our corporate governance independence or our freedom to partner with others.”
This isn’t the first time the UK’s antitrust watchdog cleared a big investment
In the past, the CMA also had approved similar big investments for other tech giants. One such example is Amazon’s $4 billion investment in Anthropic. There were two major reasons why the CMA didn’t continue that investigation.
The regulating agency then said that Anthropic’s turnover didn’t surpass £70 million in the UK. Additionally, both parties didn’t contribute 25% or more to the UK’s supply of AI LLMS and chatbots.
Microsoft is yet another name that got relief from the CMA earlier this year. The UK antitrust watchdog cleared Microsoft’s investment in two different AI startups, Mistral and Inflection. However, the Redmond-based tech giant is still under scrutiny for its investment in OpenAI.