Antitrust enforcers prepare a final blitz against Big Tech

The FTC is laying the groundwork to open an investigation into Microsoft's cloud business and other practices

- Dave Michaels

The Biden administration's top antitrust officials plan to take more shots at the tech industry before leaving office, in a race to cap four years of aggressive enforcement.

No action looms larger than the Justice Department's next move in the antitrust case it won challenging Google's efforts to maintain a monopoly in search. In a court filing due Wednesday, the department is preparing to ask a judge to consider structural changes to Google's business. Google would have to divest its Chrome browser or Android mobile operating system if it doesn't limit how it ties its ubiquitous mobile products to the use of its search engine, according to a document seen by Tlie Wall Street Journal.

It also would be forced to stop paying partners such as Apple billions of dollars a year to make Google's search engine the default on web browsers, the document procompetitive. The firms are working "to obtain the necessary approvals for this deal," HPE said.

Just down Pennsylvania Avenue, the Federal Trade Commission, which shares antitrust authority with the department, is laying the groundwork to open an investigation into Microsoft's cloud business and other practices, according to another person familiar with the matter. The probe among other things will examine whether Microsoft's agreements prevent cloud customers from considering alternatives.

Microsoft declined to comment. Tlie Financial Times earlier reported the FT C's planned scrutiny of the company's cloud business.