Green light: Competition watchdog clears Uber’s Autocab takeover
The competition watchdog has given the green light to Uber’s takeover of taxi tech firm Autocab, giving the ride-hailing giant a much-needed boost for its UK operations.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a phase one investigation into the merger in January to examine how the deal could harm the private hire vehicle market.
Autocab supplies booking and dispatch technology software to taxi firms and also owns referral network iGo, which allows companies to send and receive jobs between themselves.
The regulator probed whether the tie-up would harm competition in these markets, but concluded there was only limited indirect competition between Uber and Autocab.
Nor did it find evidence that Autocab was likely to become a more director competitor to Uber in the future.
The investigation also considered whether the combined company could put Uber’s rivals at a disadvantage by reducing the quality of software sold to them or forcing them to hand over data.
However, the CMA concluded there were other credible providers of booking software and referral services that rivals could switch to if this were the case.
“After a thorough investigation, the CMA has found no competition concerns as a result of this deal,” said Joel Bamford, senior director of mergers at the CMA.
“This is because the companies are not close competitors, the two businesses will continue to face competition from rivals and Autocab’s customer taxi companies can switch to credible alternative providers if they wish.”
The approval provides a much-needed boost for Uber, whose UK business has been left reeling by a landmark Supreme Court ruling over how the taxi firm treats its workers.
Uber has agreed to give its drivers holiday pay and pensions after it lost a long-running legal battle over whether to class them as employees rather than self-employed.