The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in OpenAI following a 14-month investigation. The conclusion is that Microsoft’s latest investment does not require further investigation under the merger rules, as neither party would gain more control over the other.
In particular, the CMA does not consider there has been a change of control by Microsoft from material influence to de facto control over OpenAI. Therefore, the Partnership will not be referred under section 22 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (the Act). – CMA press release
Microsoft owns an estimated 49% of OpenAI and has invested over $14 billion in the AI research firm since 2019. Microsoft’s latest investment round in OpenAI is still under investigation from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over potential dominance in the field of AI similar to Microsoft’s cloud computing hegemony.
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