Amazon's $4 billion investment in AI newcomer Anthropic gets UK regulatory green light
Amazon's $4 billion investment in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has been approved by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has decided not to conduct a detailed investigation into the partnership, as it is deemed not to raise significant competition concerns. Anthropic's turnover in the UK does not exceed £70 million, and its combined market share does not exceed 25%. CMA is still investigating the collaboration between Google and Anthropic. Anthropic emphasizes its independence and is currently in financing negotiations, aiming for a valuation of $40 billion
According to the financial news app Zhitong Finance, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK has decided not to conduct a detailed investigation into the cooperation between Amazon (AMZN.US) and the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. This decision was made because the cooperation did not raise significant competition issues, and Anthropic's turnover and market share in the UK did not meet the threshold for investigation under UK merger regulations.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK announced on Friday that the cooperation between Amazon and the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, along with Amazon's $4 billion investment in Anthropic, will not be subject to further investigation. CMA stated that Anthropic's turnover in the UK did not exceed £70 million, and the combined market share of both parties in the UK did not exceed 25%, thus not meeting the investigation criteria under UK merger regulations.
Amazon welcomed CMA's decision and emphasized that the cooperation did not involve any competition issues. Despite CMA initiating a preliminary investigation into the transaction in August, it ultimately decided not to take further action. Additionally, CMA is still investigating the cooperation between Google and Anthropic.
Anthropic reiterated its position as an independent company and stated that its strategic and investment relationships with companies like Amazon would not affect its corporate governance independence or its freedom to collaborate with other companies.
Founded by former OpenAI executives Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei, Anthropic has received investments from several tech giants. Earlier in March, Amazon announced an additional investment of $2.75 billion in Anthropic, bringing its total investment to $4 billion. This investment, following a $1.3 billion investment in the electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian, is Amazon's largest external investment to date.
Anthropic is currently in negotiations for financing with the goal of achieving a company valuation of $40 billion. The company recently launched a new version of its generative AI chatbot Claude aimed at large enterprises.
It is worth noting that global antitrust regulators are increasingly focusing on transactions between small industry startups and large tech companies. Previously, CMA stated that similar transactions between Microsoft and the French artificial intelligence startup Mistral AI did not meet the investigation criteria.
In March of this year, Microsoft agreed to pay $650 million to the AI startup Inflection AI for the authorization of its AI software. Additionally, Microsoft announced the hiring of Inflection AI's co-founders Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan, as well as most of the company's employees.
Industry insiders at the time stated that Microsoft's actions were akin to a low-cost, indirect acquisition of Inflection AI. CMA believed that Inflection AI also had a small share of the chatbot and AI tools market in the UK. Unlike its competitors, Inflection AI was unable to significantly grow or sustain its chatbot user base