Facebook AntiTrust – Easier in Hindsight, Harder to Know What to do in the Future
It’s easy to look back and say “we should have put a stop to Instagram before they bought their biggest competitor.” but the question of competitive strategy and acquisitions also involves looking into the future. FB’s strategy is shifting to payments, AR/VR, and Facebook coin – how will regulators decide which acquisitions are anti-competitive before Facebook even makes headway in a new market?
The strategy question is now two fold:
Customers:
Will Facebook be permitted by customers to move into micropayments and payments. They’ve tried before – remember Facebook gaming credits? Facebook also tried payments with their marketplaces concept. Each one of these efforts had to be fully shut down and reshaped.
Regulators:
Will Facebook be permitted by regulators to acquire any more companies, given their aggressive strategy and history of profiting so well from their acquisitions they quickly become the future of the company.