EU exploring antitrust probe into Microsoft, OpenAI partnership, FT reports

The EU is preparing an antitrust probe into Microsoft’s (MSFT) $13B investment into OpenAI, after the European Commission decided not to proceed with a merger review into the alliance due to lack of evidence, The Financial Times’ Javier Espinoza and Tim Bradshaw report. The EU has also made inquiries about Google’s (GOOGL) deal with Samsung (SSNLF) to install a modified version of its Gemini AI system in Samsung’s smartphones, according to the report. Margrethe Vestager, the bloc’s competition chief, said in a speech on Friday: “The key question was whether Microsoft had acquired control on a lasting basis over OpenAI. After a thorough review we concluded that such was not the case. So we are closing this chapter, but the story is not over.”