CNET también está disponible en español.

Ir a español

Don't show this again


Sen. Warren says Apple, Google and Amazon have too much power

The prominent senator from Massachusetts believes "competition is dying" in America, and anti-competitive mergers are responsible.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren says we need more competition in the US.

Win McNamee, Getty Images

There have been several high-profile acquisitions in the tech industry over the past few years: Google bought the phone maker Motorola in 2012, then the home-automation maker Nest in 2014. Facebook bought the high-profile messaging service WhatsApp in 2014. Verizon bought Aol last year. Microsoft said it planned to buy LinkedIn earlier this month.

The multibillion dollar purchases have been pitched to Wall Street and the US government as large companies expanding into new business. But Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the high-profile former Harvard professor who helped to establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said acquisitions like them have hurt competition in the US, reducing innovation and leading to higher prices.

"Ms. Warren voiced potential concern about three major tech companies--Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Apple Inc. and Inc.--because they control essential tech platforms that other, smaller companies depend upon for survival," The Wall Street Journal reported from an event Warren was speaking at Wednesday.

Apple and Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Google declined to comment.

"They deserve to be highly profitable and highly successful," Warren said, according to the Journal. "But the opportunity to compete must remain open for new entrants and smaller competitors who want their chance to change the world."