U.S. Presidential Hopeful Warren Wants Breakup of Google, Facebook and Amazon

(Reuters) - Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Friday that if elected U.S. president she would seek to break up tech companies Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc as part of a structural change to the sector aimed at promoting competition.

Warren, who is seeking to stand out in a Democratic field crowded with progressives, said in a blog post that the companies have been allowed to purchase potential competitors, like Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram.

“They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation,” Warren wrote.

Amazon shares fell 1.5 percent and Facebook and Alphabet shares were down 0.6 percent in morning trade on Friday.

Warren said that she would nominate regulators who would unwind mergers such as Facebook’s deals for WhatsApp and Instagram, Amazon’s deals for Whole Foods and Zappos, and Google’s purchase of Waze, Nest and DoubleClick.

Amazon, Google and Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
 

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