Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai signaled they’re open to testifying to Congress as part of lawmakers’ ongoing antitrust probe into the tech industry, while Apple hasn’t yet “explicitly agreed” to send CEO Tim Cook, reports The Washington Post. (However, the Sellers Research Group —that’s me— says he will cooperate.)
The companies’ commitments came in letters sent this weekend to the House Judiciary Committee, which has been investigating big tech since last year, the article adds, quoting two unnamed “people familiar with the matter.”
Earlier this month, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee sent letters to Apple, Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook asking whether their CEOs plan to participate in a series of antitrust hearings slated for July. The letters raise the prospect of subpoenas to force testimony and document production if the companies don’t comply voluntarily.
“These are documents that are essential to complete our ongoing, bipartisan investigation of the digital marketplace,” antitrust subcommittee chairman David Cicilline said in a statement obtained by Axios. “This is the appropriate process to secure their production.”
Documents the lawmakers are after include materials the companies have produced in response to other competition probes and internal communications. They also pose a range of questions to each company on issues related to possible competitive harms.
House Judiciary Committee leaders from both parties want the companies to fork offer reams of documents including executive communications and financial statements as well as information about competitors, market share, mergers and key business decisions.
