Josh Sisco
The Information
San Francisco, CA, United States
Contact Josh
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Past articles by Josh:
FTC Opens Inquiry Into Sony’s $3.6 Billion Bungie Gaming Purchase
The Federal Trade Commission has opened an in-depth investigation of Sony’s proposed $3.6 billion takeover of Bungie, the gaming studio behind Destiny and Halo, according to people familiar with the matter. While the FTC may not be able to block the deal, its decision to review it is the latest ... → Read More
FTC Chief Khan Vows to Address Sinking Staff Morale
Under both Republican and Democratic administrations, the Federal Trade Commission has consistently ranked in the top five for staff satisfaction among medium-size government agencies, according to annual government surveys. But that changed in 2021, the year Lina Khan, a favorite of ... → Read More
Elon Musk’s Early Twitter Purchase Under FTC Scrutiny
Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter takeover is unlikely to raise antitrust concerns. But what is already being scrutinized is Musk’s failure to comply with rules regarding disclosure of his initial 9% stake, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The Federal Trade Commission recently ... → Read More
Twitter Board Expected To Fight Musk Offer
Twitter’s board of directors views Elon Musk’s takeover offer as unwelcome, said a person familiar with the situation, suggesting it will fight the bid. One person close to the situation said that the board wanted to support CEO Parag Agrawal, who only assumed the role in November. Meanwhile, ... → Read More
FTC Opens Probe of Amazon’s MGM Purchase, Signaling a Lengthy Inquiry
Any hopes that Amazon had of completing its $8.5 billion purchase of movie and TV studio MGM anytime soon may have just gone out the window. The Federal Trade Commission on Friday opened an in-depth investigation into the deal, according to people familiar with the matter, setting the stage for ... → Read More
FTC’s Court Loss Against Facebook Could Spur Congress on Antitrust Reform
A federal court ruling on Monday handed Facebook an unexpected and dramatic win—for now—in its defense against U.S. antitrust lawyers who were seeking to force the company to spin off Whatsapp and Instagram. The ruling by a federal judge to toss out a pair of antitrust lawsuits filed last fall ... → Read More
FTC Heard Concerns From Salesforce, Zendesk Over Facebook’s $1 Billion CRM Buy
Salesforce and Zendesk, which sell customer relationship management software, expressed concern about Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of a smaller CRM firm to Federal Trade Commission lawyers reviewing the deal, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. That’s one reason the ... → Read More
New FTC Chair Lina Khan Appoints Antitrust Chief, Other Key Staffers
Lina Khan, the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission, on Thursday named three top staff members amid one of the most radical shifts in the agency’s history, according to a memo viewed by The Information. Holly Vedova, who was an adviser to FTC commissioner Rohit Chopra, a Democrat, on ... → Read More
Apple Facing Potential Loss in App Store Antitrust Case as Judge Turns Hostile
The last two days of Apple’s high-profile antitrust trial against app developer Epic Games didn’t go the way Apple had hoped. The judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, voiced concerns about Apple’s App Store levying a 30% tax on digital purchases made in apps, an issue that is at the core of Epic’s ... → Read More
FTC Picks New Antitrust Top Cop to Battle Facebook, Probe Amazon
A little-known criminal antitrust prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, Eyitayo St. Matthew-Daniel, is expected to be named the top antitrust enforcer at the department’s sister agency, the Federal Trade Commission, say three people familiar with the situation. The previously unreported ... → Read More
Midway Through Apple-Epic Trial, Apple Maintains Its Advantage
App developers are rooting for Epic Games to win its court battle against Apple. Yet some prominent developers told The Information they have grown concerned that the ongoing antitrust trial between Apple and Epic could hurt their own efforts to take on Apple and redefine who controls the ... → Read More
Why Apple Has the Edge in Epic Antitrust Trial
In 11 days, Epic Games will square off against Apple in an Oakland, Calif., courtroom in a trial over whether the iPhone maker violated U.S. antitrust law by forcing the videogame app developer to pay certain fees. A win by Epic would reshape the world’s most valuable company and carve a path ... → Read More
Altimeter to Lead Plaid Deal After Scrapped Visa Merger
Plaid, the financial technology startup whose planned sale to Visa fell apart in January, is raising about $600 million in a funding round that could value it at between $10 billion to $15 billion, according to four people close to the company. Altimeter Capital, a hedge fund turned VC firm that ... → Read More
What Big Tech Antitrust Foe Lina Khan Could Do at the FTC
The Biden administration’s likely nomination of law professor Lina Khan as a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission might seem like a call to arms for tech companies. The appointment of Khan, who authored a seminal legal paper on how antitrust law could be used to prevent Amazon from ... → Read More
Facebook’s $1 Billion Kustomer Acquisition Faces Extensive Antitrust Review
Facebook’s planned purchase of a startup called Kustomer is the kind of deal that would barely have raised an eyebrow among antitrust regulators a few years ago. The company is small and sells customer service software, far outside Facebook’s core social media and virtual reality businesses. But ... → Read More
Apple’s App Sign-in Button Becomes Hot-Button Issue in U.S. Antitrust Probe
More and more iPhone apps are offering people the option of signing up by using information stored with Apple, adding to the array of quick sign-in formats that let people skip typing in their email address and other details. But how Apple is implementing this option—requiring it on all apps ... → Read More
Facebook Preps Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple
A long-simmering public dispute between Facebook and Apple has neared a boiling point. With the aid of outside legal counsel, Facebook for months has been preparingan antitrust lawsuit against Apple that would allege the iPhone-maker abused its power in the smartphone market by forcing app ... → Read More