Don Polden was quoted by MarketWatch regarding the government’s suit against Facebook for anticompetitive behavior. One of the remedies sought in the suits is to force Facebook to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp.
“The government has a tough case,” Polden said in a phone interview. “It’s not going to be an easy case. That was the same insight I had about [the case against] Google because people like the service and it’s free. You don’t have a situation where the price is higher and it’s harder to get. It’s largely driven by the complaints of competitors.”
Polden also noted that spinning off Facebook’s two biggest acquisitions, Instagram and WhatsApp, will be difficult to enact.
“There have been cases where there have been divestitures of the previously acquired company, but they are stand-alone companies, they function as a division, as stand-alone assets,” Polden said.
