A neon Google logo is seen as employees work at the new Google office in Toronto, November 13, 2012.

BRUSSELS | Fri Feb 1, 2013 4:37am EST

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Google has presented detailed proposals to allay anti-competitive concerns about its business practices, the EU antitrust regulator said on Friday, in a move which brings the company a step closer to resolving a two-year investigation.

The European Commission has been investigating the world's most popular search engine following complaints from more than a dozen companies, including Microsoft, that Google has used its market power to block rivals.

Asked if he had received Google's proposal to resolve the matter, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told Reuters: "Yes."

He declined to provide details on the proposal, adding only: "We are analyzing it."

The Commission, which acts as competition regulator in the 27-member European Union, is now expected to seek feedback from Google rivals and other interested parties.

Almunia told Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt in December his company had until this month to present a comprehensive offer to allay regulatory concerns and stave off a possible fine.

Such a penalty could be as much as 10 percent of global turnover if a company is found to be in breach of EU rules. That could mean $4 billion if there is no satisfactory resolution in Google's case.

The Commission has said Google may have favored its own search services over those of rivals, and copied travel and restaurant reviews from competing sites without permission.

The EU executive is also concerned the company may have put restrictions on advertisers and advertising to prevent them from moving their online campaigns to competing search engines.

Earlier this month, Google won a major victory when U.S. antitrust regulators ended their investigation, saying the company had not manipulated its web search results to block rivals.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Rex Merrifield)

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WASHINGTON | Sun Dec 30, 2012 9:13pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Sunday approved prominent antitrust attorney William Baer to head the Justice Department's Antitrust Division 10 months after he was tapped by President Barack Obama.

The Senate voted 64-26 to approve Baer's nomination, which ran into problems with some Republicans because of secret information in an FBI background report.

Baer, an antitrust and white collar criminal defense attorney with the law firm Arnold & Porter LLP, has worked in the past for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

"Bill is a highly-skilled and well-respected antitrust lawyer who understands the importance of promoting competition in order for consumers to reap the benefits of lower prices and better quality products and services," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement welcoming the Senate vote.

The Justice Department's Antitrust Division, along with the FTC, reviews mergers to ensure they comply with antitrust law and prosecutes price-fixing and other antitrust violations.

Baer first joined FTC as a young attorney just out of law school and returned later to head its antitrust office.

At his confirmation hearing in July, Baer urged careful monitoring of powerful companies willing to flex their muscles to push aside rivals.

Obama nominated Baer in February to fill the post vacated by Christine Varney in mid-2011. James Wayland most recently served as acting head of the Antitrust Division, but left in November.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination in September on a 12-5 vote, with the panel's top Republican, Mike Lee of Utah, joining the Democratic majority in support.

But Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said during that meeting he opposed Baer's nomination for reasons that he could not give in an open session.

Grassley and 25 other Republicans voted against Baer on Sunday while 14 Republicans voted for him.

(Reporting By Doug Palmer; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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The Google logo is seen as Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt speaks at a promotional event for the Nexus 7 tablet in Seoul September 27, 2012.

WASHINGTON | Fri Oct 12, 2012 6:32pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The majority of top decision-makers at the Federal Trade Commission believe that an antitrust case should be brought against Google Inc, meaning the search giant could soon be headed into tough negotiations, three people familiar with the matter said.

Four of the FTC commissioners have become convinced after more than a year of investigation that Google illegally used its dominance of the search market to hurt its rivals, while one commissioner is skeptical, the sources said.

All three declined to be named to protect working relationships.

Two of the sources said a decision on how to proceed could come in late November or early December.

A long list of companies has been complaining to the FTC, arguing that the agency should crack down on Google.

Companies rarely talk publicly about their dealings with the FTC, but consumer reviews website Yelp and comparison shopping website Nextag have both complained about Google during open hearings in Congress.

Google rivals specializing in travel, shopping and entertainment have accused Google, the world's No. 1 search engine, of unfairly giving their web sites low quality rankings in search results to steer Internet users away from their websites and toward Google products that provide similar services.

Computer users are overwhelmingly more likely to click on the top results in any search. The low ranking often forces companies to buy more ads on Google to improve their visibility, one source said.

Google has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Asked about any discussions with the FTC, Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick said: "We are happy to answer any questions that regulators have about our business." The FTC declined to comment.

During a congressional hearing in September 2011, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt denied that the company manipulated its search results. "May I simply say that I can assure you we've not cooked anything," he told the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel.

COMPLAINTS PILE UP

The one source said the FTC commissioners have given weight to other complaints that Google refuses to share data that would allow advertisers and developers to create software to compare the value they get on Google to advertising spending on Microsoft's Bing or Yahoo.

In a related issue, the FTC is looking at Google's handling of valuable patents, which are determined to be essential to smartphones. The agency is trying to determine if they are licensed fairly and whether patent infringement lawsuits are used to hamper innovation.

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in mid-September that he expected a decision in the case by the end of the year. European regulators are conducting a similar antitrust probe.

If the agency finds that Google broke the law, the FTC and Google could hammer out a settlement that resolves the issues or, if settlement negotiations fail, the matter could end up in a lengthy, expensive court fight.

The FTC announced in April that it had hired high-powered Washington lawyer Beth Wilkinson to lead the probe. The hiring was seen as a sign that the FTC was contemplating filing a lawsuit against Google.

This is not the first run-in that Google has had with the agency.

In August, Google was forced to pay $22.5 million to settle charges it bypassed the privacy settings of customers using Apple Inc's Safari browser. The practice was in violation of a 2011 consent decree with the FTC over a botched rollout of the now defunct social network Buzz.

(Reporting By Diane Bartz; Editing by Karey Wutkowski and Tim Dobbyn)

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Chesapeake Energy Corporation's 50 acre campus is seen in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 17, 2012.

ATLANTA | Thu Aug 9, 2012 8:03pm EDT

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy said it is the subject of a U.S. government investigation over possible criminal antitrust violations related to the purchase and lease of oil and gas properties in Michigan.

Chesapeake has received a subpoena from the antitrust division of the Justice Department's Midwest field office, requiring the company to produce documents before a grand jury in the Western District of Michigan, according to a filing with U.S. regulators on Thursday.

In June, Reuters reported that Chesapeake plotted with its top competitor, Canada's Encana Corp, to suppress land prices in the Collingwood shale in Northern Michigan.

Emails between Chesapeake and Encana showed the two companies repeatedly discussed how to avoid bidding against each other in a public land auction in Michigan two years ago and in at least nine prospective deals with private land owners.

The Justice Department is "moving criminally," said Darren Bush, a former antitrust attorney for the Department of Justice and a professor of antitrust law at the University of Houston. "They are working their way through the grand jury process to potentially serve up indictments."

Chesapeake's disclosure indicates the Justice Department has moved swiftly on the matter. Reuters published its story on June 25. Just four days later, on June 29, the subpoena was served on Chesapeake, according to the company's quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Reuters report showed Chesapeake and Encana executives, including Chesapeake Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon, exchanged emails about dividing up the nine Michigan counties and landowners in an effort to prevent "acreage prices from continuing to push up," and establishing "bidding responsibilities" ahead of an October 2010 Michigan state land auction.

A spokesman for Encana was not immediately available to comment. A spokesman for Chesapeake declined comment, but the filing said the company is cooperating with the investigations. Chesapeake also said its board of directors is conducting an internal review of the matter.

Price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocations by competitors are illegal in the United States under the Sherman Antitrust Act, and companies can be fined up to $100 million for each offense.

Chesapeake acknowledged in June that it held talks with Encana but said the two companies never consummated any agreement and never bid jointly. Encana said it held talks with Chesapeake without reaching an agreement on a joint venture. The Canadian company has begun an internal inquiry led by the chairman of its board of directors.

Chesapeake said in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it has also received demands for documents and information from state governmental agencies in connection with other probes relating to oil and gas rights transactions.

A spokeswoman for the Michigan Attorney General's office, which has also opened an investigation into possible collusion between Chesapeake and Encana, declined to comment. A Justice Department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chesapeake has been operating under a cloud of legal and governance issues following Reuters investigations showing potential conflicts of interest on the part of McClendon as well as the collusion allegations.

Shares of Chesapeake fell 2.5 percent to $19.80 from a New York Stock Exchange close of $20.31 in post market trading.

(Reporting By Michael Erman and Joshua Schneyer in New York, Scott Haggett in Calgary and Anna Driver in Houston; Editing by David Gregorio and Carol Bishopric)

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