Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on January 22, 2025
By Paul Sandle and Kate Holton
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain forced out the chair of its antitrust regulator after he failed to prioritise its growth agenda, replacing him with a former Amazon boss, in a sign the UK's attempt to rein in big tech could be over.
Marcus Bokkerink was replaced at the Competition and Markets Authority late on Tuesday by Amazon's former boss in Britain, Doug Gurr, the government said. Finance minister Rachel Reeves said she needed someone aligned with her "strategic direction".
"He recognised it was time for him to move on and make way for somebody who does share the mission and the strategic direction that this government are taking," she told a Bloomberg event at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos.
Bokkerink's removal came a day after Donald Trump returned to the White House, vowing to cut regulation on sectors including tech as it races to develop Artificial Intelligence.
Some criticised the move as a shift to a lighter touch in Britain, where regulators have traditionally been unafraid to take on big companies to protect the interests of smaller firms and consumers.
"Now is the time to file your mergers with the CMA," said Tom Smith, competition lawyer at Geradin Partners and a former legal director at the regulator.
"The government is sending a clear signal that it wants the CMA to go easy on dealmakers."
Britain's Labour government, under pressure to reignite the economy after years of sluggish output, has said it wants regulators to "tear down the barriers hindering businesses" and focus on growth. But some have questioned whether an easing of competition rules would promote growth.
After he was ousted, Bokkerink said on LinkedIn that markets should not be held back "by a few powerful incumbents setting the rules for everyone else".
The CMA's last clash with a U.S. tech giant was over Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard in 2023, and the regulator came off worse.
It blocked the deal but then tore up its own rule book to approve the case following a furious reaction from Microsoft bosses who lobbied the government at the highest level.
It did not block a single deal in 2024, and allowed two of Britain's four mobile networks to merge.
SUPERCHARGING GROWTH
After being singled out by Prime Minister Keir Starmer for holding back growth, the CMA said in November that it would focus on "truly problematic mergers" and rethink its approach to allow more deals to go ahead.
An executive at a major British tech and media company said Bokkerink had been leading the growth charge.
The person, who asked not to be named, said there was real surprise over the choice of his replacement, raising the question of how much big tech had lobbied the government.
CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said Bokkerink had "tirelessly championed consumers, competition and a level playing field for business".
Competition lawyer Ian Giles at Norton Rose Fulbright said the CMA's mantra, echoed by government previously, had been that competition was good for growth and for business – and rules need to be enforced to support this objective.
The move "suggests that there may be a desire to rein in the CMA's more interventionist approach," he said, even at the cost of reduced rule enforcement.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he wanted to see the CMA "supercharging the economy with pro-business decisions that will drive prosperity and growth, putting more money in people's pockets".
He said Gurr, appointed on an interim basis, would bring a "wealth of experience" in the technology sector.
The change comes as the CMA steps up its scrutiny of Big Tech through its Digital Markets Unit.
The unit, which gained new powers this month, is tasked with ensuring that tech companies such as Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple and Microsoft, do not abuse their dominant market positions.
Amazon, under Gurr's leadership, was investigated by the CMA over its stake in food delivery company Deliveroo. The regulator cleared the investment in 2020.
The CMA will imminently give its verdict on the cloud computing market, dominated by Amazon, Microsoft and to a lesser extent Google.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle and Kate Holton, additional reporting by Muvija M, Editing by Kate Holton and Christina Fincher)
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