Facebook Wins Antitrust Lawsuit... Fifth U.S. Company to Surpass $1 Trillion Market Cap

Victory in lawsuits including US FTC
Achieved market cap at fastest speed
Halting state government Big Tech regulations

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Facebook, the world's largest social media company, has gained the upper hand in the antitrust lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and various state attorneys general. Riding on this news, Facebook's corporate value surpassed $1 trillion (approximately 1,131.5 trillion KRW). Facebook became the fifth U.S. company to exceed a market capitalization of $1 trillion, following Apple, Microsoft (MS), Amazon, and Alphabet, and achieved this milestone at the fastest pace among these companies.

According to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 28th (local time), the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. dismissed the antitrust lawsuit filed by the FTC and attorneys general from 46 states against Facebook. The court sided with Facebook's request to dismiss the lawsuit filed in March.

There is an analysis that the FTC and state governments' attempts to regulate the market dominance of big tech companies, including Facebook, have been stalled.

Judge James Boasberg of Washington D.C. pointed out, "The FTC failed to clearly define the concept of the market, and the claims regarding Facebook's position in the market rely on speculation." He added, "While this court does not agree with all of Facebook's claims, it agrees that the FTC's claims are legally insufficient and therefore must be dismissed." This means there was insufficient evidence to support the claim that Facebook exercises monopoly power in the social media industry.

However, Judge Boasberg added that if the FTC appeals the first-instance ruling and submits revised evidence within 30 days, it may refile the lawsuit.

Judge Boasberg completely dismissed the lawsuits filed by the state attorneys general. The state governments had filed antitrust lawsuits seeking to nullify Facebook's acquisitions of Instagram in 2012 and Messenger WhatsApp in 2014.

Judge Boasberg stated the dismissal reason, saying, "This is excessively delayed."

There had been expectations that if Facebook lost the lawsuits filed by the state attorneys general, regulatory authorities might order the divestiture of Instagram and WhatsApp. However, this victory appears to alleviate such concerns for now. WSJ evaluated, "Facebook scored a major victory even before the lawsuit got on track."

Facebook's victory has put a brake on the FTC and state governments' plans to curb the market dominance of giant tech companies in the future. Bloomberg analyzed, "The FTC and state governments' attempts to regulate big tech companies, including Facebook, have suffered a major blow."

Following the news of the dismissal of the antitrust lawsuit, Facebook's stock price closed at $355.64, up 4.18% ($14.27), surpassing a market capitalization of $1 trillion. Facebook became the fifth company to exceed a $1 trillion market cap, following Apple, MS, Amazon, and Alphabet. Notably, Facebook achieved this milestone in nine years since its IPO in May 2012 (market cap of $104 billion), making it the fastest among these companies to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization (approximately 1,131.5 trillion KRW).

As of that day, Apple's market cap was $2.25 trillion, MS was $2.02 trillion, Amazon was $1.74 trillion, and Google's parent company Alphabet was $1.7 trillion.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.