American Banker Shows DOJ Sat On a Bank-Kickback Scandal

HUD says big banks got $6 billion, but the attorney general does nothing

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 7, 2011 at 02:52 PM

American Banker has really been doing some superb stuff lately. Jeff Horwitz has a big scoop in today's paper, reporting... More

AT&T’s Cellphone Industry Rollup Gets Second-Day Scrutiny

By Ryan Chittum   Mar 22, 2011 at 01:28 PM

The business press continues to be skeptical in its second-day coverage of AT&T's $39 billion deal for T-Mobile. That's a... More

AT&T’s Hubris

By Ryan Chittum   Aug 31, 2011 at 02:48 PM

The Justice Department is suing to stop AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile, which would have consolidated three-quarters of cellphone-plan market... More

Audit Notes: Carr on Amazon, Muni Broadband, Too Big to Fail

By Ryan Chittum   Apr 16, 2012 at 07:49 PM

David Carr's New York Times column today on Amazon, Apple, and the book publishers is excellent. He calls the Department... More

Audit Notes: Ebooks, Amazon, and Apple Edition

By Ryan Chittum   Apr 13, 2012 at 08:05 PM

Barry C. Lynn, author of Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction, writes a good Slate piece... More

Audit Notes: Economic Headwinds, Refinancing, Google’s Dominance

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 19, 2011 at 07:25 PM

Crain's New York Business's Aaron Elstein takes a good look anecdotes at the headwinds New York's economy is facing from... More

Audit Notes: Ma Bell II—Duopoly Edition

By Ryan Chittum   Mar 23, 2011 at 11:51 PM

The Financial Times's John Gapper has an excellent column on why the AT&T's proposed deal for T-Mobile should be shot... More

Audit Notes: Risky Business, Two Economies, Google and Monopoly

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 13, 2010 at 08:17 PM

The New York Times is good to keep an eye on signs of a return of risky lending. Today it... More

Deal Myopia in the WSJ and NYT on Hard Drive Merger

By Ryan Chittum   Mar 8, 2011 at 02:52 PM

Here's a good example of how poorly the business press covers acquisitions that could hurt competition. The Wall Street Journal... More

Ebooks and Antitrust

The Justice Department sues Apple and five book publishers for fighting Amazon

By Ryan Chittum   Apr 11, 2012 at 07:56 PM

Back in 2010, a giant retailer had 90 percent of a market—a near total monopoly (monopsony, if you want to... More

Four Ws From the WSJ

By Ryan Chittum   Jun 2, 2011 at 06:41 PM

The Wall Street Journal messes up a story atop its Marketplace section today that reports that a judge ordered American... More

Good Consolidation Coverage for a Change on AT&T Deal

The business press is skeptical of creating a duopoly in cell phone service

By Ryan Chittum   Mar 21, 2011 at 07:41 PM

Fortune's Seth Weintraub pulls a four-year-old Stephen Colbert clip that's as good a place as any to kick off a... More

Google’s Search Dominance Comes In Handy for Its Other Businesses

The Wall Street Journal looks at a key competitive issue on the Web.

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 13, 2010 at 11:46 AM

Google has a near-monopoly on search in the U.S. It uses that dominant position to boost its other businesses at... More

Hiltzik Takes on the FCC on the Comcast-NBC Deal

By Ryan Chittum   Jan 6, 2011 at 03:53 PM

John Dunbar has a must-read piece in the current issue of Columbia Journalism Review on why the Comcast-NBC Merger is... More

Homeless Shelters 4 AT&T-Verizon Duopoly

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 17, 2011 at 03:17 PM

In June, Politico and the Washington Post ran stories showing how, in exchange for Ma Bell's cash, nonprofits like NAACP... More

Pearlstein Takes On Google’s Threat to Competition

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 15, 2010 at 04:19 PM

The Washington Post's Steven Pearlstein takes up the Google monopoly case today with an excellent column in The Washington Post.... More

The Journal Misses on Ebooks and Antitrust

By Ryan Chittum   Apr 25, 2012 at 07:55 PM

It's usually wise to read an "experts say" story a little more skeptically than you normally would. That's the case... More