On Tuesday 28 March, the European Commission unconditionally approved the proposed acquisition of the US company Photomath, Inc. (Photomath) by Google LLC (Google).
The Commission concluded that the transaction would not give rise to any competition concerns within the European Economic Area (EEA).
Google is an American technology company active in a wide range of product families, including online search, app store services and several online homework and learning tools.
Photomath owns an online homework and learning app that allows users to scan and solve maths problems using a smartphone camera.
The Commission found that the transaction would not significantly restrict competition in the markets of: - online homework and learning tools (in mathematics); - general research services.
The institution found that: - the integration of Photomath into Google’s general search service would not strengthen the company’s position in the market; - access to the Google search engine is not a key factor in gaining new users of mathematical tools; - competing maths learning tools do not rely on searches in the Google app store to gain new users (and competitors gain new users in other ways).
Link to the case: https://aeur.eu/f/63h (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)