EU approves acquisition of Kustomer by Meta subject to conditions
The European Commission has given permission for Meta’s intended acquisition of software company Kustomer. The EU does attach some conditions to this. For example, a manager is appointed, who must ensure that competition is not hindered.
The European Commission approved the acquisition on Thursday. Kustomer develops so-called CRM software, which can be used for customer service. Through this software, companies can arrange contact with customers via various platforms. Meta offers various services that are used by companies for contact with customers, which is partly why the European Commission launched an investigation.
The acquisition has now been approved, but the European Commission attaches various conditions to it. Following the acquisition, competing CRM software providers should continue to be able to access the APIs for relevant Meta services, such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger, so they can continue to use them in their own software. Those competitors must also continue to be provided with updates and new functions. The commitment to this will last for 10 years. In addition, an administrator will be appointed to ensure that Meta meets the conditions.
Meta announced the acquisition of Kustomer at the end of 2020. The Facebook parent company will pay a billion dollars for the acquisition, which amounts to approximately 841 million euros. The European Commission started its investigation into the acquisition in August. The Commission was concerned that the proposed acquisition would distort competition in the CRM software market and that the acquisition could cause the Facebook parent company to affect competition in the advertising market. In its ruling, the European Commission ruled that the latter was not the case.
Germany is currently also investigating the takeover, independently of the European Commission, Bloomberg writes. The deadline for that study is February 11. The United Kingdom already approved the acquisition last year and did not attach any further conditions to it.