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UK Clears Amazon's AI Partnership with Anthropic

The logo of Amazon is seen on the door of an Amazon Books retail store in New York City, US, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The logo of Amazon is seen on the door of an Amazon Books retail store in New York City, US, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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UK Clears Amazon's AI Partnership with Anthropic

The logo of Amazon is seen on the door of an Amazon Books retail store in New York City, US, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The logo of Amazon is seen on the door of an Amazon Books retail store in New York City, US, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Britain's competition regulator said on Friday Amazon's artificial intelligence partnership with startup Anthropic will not be referred for a deeper probe as it did not raise competition concerns.

The Competition and Markets Authority said the partnership, which includes a $4 billion investment by Amazon in Anthropic, did not qualify for investigation under Britain's merger regulations.

"We welcome the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decision acknowledging its lack of jurisdiction regarding this collaboration," an Amazon spokesperson said in response to the regulator's decision, according to Reuters.

The regulator has also cleared a similar collaboration between Microsoft and Inflection AI.

However, Alphabet's partnership with Anthropic is still under scrutiny.

"Anthropic is an independent company and our strategic partnerships and investor relationships do not diminish our corporate governance independence or freedom to partner with others," an Anthropic spokesperson told Reuters on Friday.

Anthropic, which was co-founded by former OpenAI executives and siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, has received billions of dollars in investments from several tech giants.

Antitrust regulators around the world have increasingly raised concerns over multiple deals struck between smaller industry startups and big tech companies.

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Volkswagen Workers to Go on Warning Strikes Across Germany

The Volkswagen logo is displayed on the Volkswagen power plant on the day when Volkswagen AG and the industrial union IG Metall started talks over a new labor agreement for six of its German plants, in Wolfsburg, Germany, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File Photo
The Volkswagen logo is displayed on the Volkswagen power plant on the day when Volkswagen AG and the industrial union IG Metall started talks over a new labor agreement for six of its German plants, in Wolfsburg, Germany, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File Photo
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Volkswagen Workers to Go on Warning Strikes Across Germany

The Volkswagen logo is displayed on the Volkswagen power plant on the day when Volkswagen AG and the industrial union IG Metall started talks over a new labor agreement for six of its German plants, in Wolfsburg, Germany, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File Photo
The Volkswagen logo is displayed on the Volkswagen power plant on the day when Volkswagen AG and the industrial union IG Metall started talks over a new labor agreement for six of its German plants, in Wolfsburg, Germany, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File Photo

Volkswagen workers will go on warning strikes on Monday at plants across Germany, labor union IG Metall said, marking the first large-scale walkouts at Volkswagen's domestic operations since 2018.

The start of the strikes represents a further escalation of a dispute between Europe's top carmaker and its workers over mass layoffs, pay cuts and possible plant closures - drastic measures the company says it cannot rule out in the face of Chinese competition and cooling consumer demand.

Labor representatives at VW had on Nov. 22 voted for limited strikes at German operations from early December after talks over wages and plant closures failed to achieve a breakthrough, Reuters reported.

"If necessary, this will be the toughest collective bargaining battle Volkswagen has ever seen," IG Metall negotiator Thorsten Groeger said in a statement.

The carmaker said it continues to rely on constructive dialogue to find a sustainable solution.

"Volkswagen respects the right of employees to take part in a warning strike," a spokesperson said in reply to the union's announcement, adding that the company had taken steps in advance to ensure a basic level of supplies to customers and minimise the impact of the strike.

Warning strikes in Germany usually last from a few hours.

The union had last week proposed measures it said would save 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion), including forgoing bonuses for 2025 and 2026, which Europe's top carmaker dismissed.

Volkswagen has demanded a 10% wage cut, arguing it needs to slash costs and boost profit to defend market share in the face of cheap competition from China and a drop in European car demand.

The company is threatening to close plants in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history.

"Volkswagen has set fire to our collective agreements and instead of extinguishing this fire in three collective bargaining sessions, the management board is throwing open barrels of petrol into it," Groeger said.

An agreement not to stage walkouts had ended on Saturday, IG Metall said, enabling workers to carry out warning strikes from Sunday across VW AG's German plants.

"Warning strikes will start at all plants from Monday. How long and how intensive this confrontation needs to be is Volkswagen's responsibility at the negotiating table," Groeger said.

Labor representatives and management will meet again on Dec. 9 to carry on negotiations over a new labor agreement for workers at the German business - VW AG - with unions vowing to resist any proposals that do not provide a long-term plan for every VW plant.