IP: Business-Exchange Sites Raise Questions for Regulators

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

July 7, 2000

Business-Exchange Sites Raise Questions for Regulators

By DAVID LEONHARDT

WASHINGTON, July 6 -- As companies in practically every industry rush to 
join business-to-business exchanges on the Internet, regulators are growing 
concerned that they will face a rash of new antitrust questions for which 
they are not prepared.
Known as B2B Web sites, the exchanges create a place for companies in the 
same industry, be it automobiles or grain, to buy and sell goods, 
potentially saving millions of dollars in back-office costs by setting up a 
national marketplace online. But the sites, which can compile huge amounts 
of sensitive data and are often jointly owned by corporate rivals, also 
create opportunities for collusion and price-fixing that did not exist 
before, antitrust experts say.

Both regulators and executives agree that the stakes are enormous. B2B 
sites already account for about $150 billion in annual sales, significantly 
more than the better-known consumer sites like Amazon.com. And that number 
is expected to grow exponentially as businesses move more and more into 
buying and selling on the Web.

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http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/biztech/articles/07trust.html