Strome Business Minute With Dr. Jeff Tanner

I’m Jeff Tanner, Dean of the Strome College of Business, and this is a Strome Business Minute. The internet giants Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google are being investigated by the Justice Department for violation of antitrust laws. The company facing the strongest pressure is Google, and expectations are that the Justice Department will file suit against Google by the end of the year. The reason for the probe is potentially illegal tying contracts, which require a buyer to buy unwanted products in order to get the products really wanted. Google’s problem is that they bundle services into packages and you have no choice but to buy the full package. Companies that want the Google search engine and advertising services also have to buy YouTube and other services. This won’t change the creepy tracking we get on the internet, but unbundling would reduce costs to advertisers and perhaps consumers. This has been a Strome Business Minute, presented by the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.