Anti-monopoly Research On Data-driven Mergers And Acquisitions In The Internet Industry

Data is the key factor of Internet industry competition,data aggregation is the invisible motivation of Internet industry concentration,and data-driven mergers and acquisitions is a special form of Internet industry monopoly.However,the anti-monopoly theory based on the traditional industry background is not enough for the new problems in the era of digital economy.For example,Internet free behavior makes turnover unsuitable as the declaration standard of concentration of undertakings,platform economy makes it difficult to define the relevant market,and the existing review standard is difficult to review data aggregation.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,the dissertation consists of the following four chapters:The first chapter: interpretation of data driven M & A in Internet industry.This chapter introduces the basic principle of data-driven mergers and acquisitions in Internet industry.The competition of Internet industry has the particularity of network effect,synergy effect,free behavior and data-driven.Data has dual legal attributes of personality right and property right,and plays an important role in the Internet business competition.However,data concentration brings not only positive scale effect,but also the risk of data monopoly.Among them,data-driven mergers and acquisitions is the main risk.This chapter also clear that data-driven mergers and acquisitions is a kind of mergers and acquisitions initiated by enterprises based on the consideration of data integration in the digital economy.The second chapter: the study and judgment of typical cases of M & A and the proposal of anti-monopoly problems.This chapter analyzes the typical cases of data-driven mergers and acquisitions from both domestic and overseas.It analyzes the anti-monopoly problems extended from three typical cases."Didi’s merger and acquisition of Uber China case" reveals that the turnover of Internet enterprises participating in the concentration is lower than the declaration standard,so that they are merged without declaration.From "Facebook M & A Whats App case",this chapter captures the definition of bilateral market and data related market in data-driven mergers and acquisitions."Microsoft’s acquisition of Linked In case" emphasizes the issue of antitrust review data consolidation.The third chapter: an analysis of anti-monopoly problems in data-driven M & A.This chapter discusses and analyzes three key problems of data-driven mergers and acquisitions.Firstly,there are limitations in using turnover as the sole declaration standard for concentration of undertakings.The turnover and market share of Internet enterprises are often inconsistent.Secondly,the traditional method of defining relevant market is not suitable for bilateral market and data related market.Thirdly,the existing anti-monopoly review standards for business merger are not comprehensive enough,and the potential monopoly risks caused by data-driven mergers and acquisitions have not been included in the scope of competition law review.The fourth chapter: suggestions on anti-monopoly regulation of data-driven M & A.Based on the above analysis,this chapter puts forward some constructive suggestions.First,it is suggested to adjust the application standards of business merger flexibly according to the particularity of Internet industry,and introduce auxiliary standards such as market share or competitor supervision mechanism.Second,improve the traditional market definition methods.SSNDQ test,SSNIC test,sales mode test,profit source analysis and product performance test can be used as the definition method of Internet bilateral market.And the data shall be used as a factor to evaluate other relevant markets for its services.Third,when reviewing the competitive effect of data-driven mergers and acquisitions,multiple factors should be introduced,such as market dominance standard,big data evaluation standard and personal data and privacy protection standard.Analyzing the particularity of data-driven mergers and acquisitions in the Internet industry and its antitrust dilemma will help to make up for the lack of antitrust review and supervision.Research shows that driven by data interests,Internet business merger has not only the common problem of monopoly in the new economic field,but also the concern of data monopoly.The core factors of concentration behavior,such as declaration standard,relevant market definition and review factors,should be developed under the phenomenon of data-driven mergers and acquisitions.