The good news from Facebook – The New York Times

Google is spending $ 2.1 billion on an office building in Manhattan. It is one of the highest prices paid for an office building in the United States in recent years, and a psychological boost to the New York City commercial real estate market, which is struggling with record vacancy rates. The tech giant has 12,000 employees in the city and plans to hire 2,000 more.

The Treasury Department is targeting the role of cryptocurrency in ransomware attacks. As part of a series of actions to prevent cybercrime, the department imposed sanctions on Suex, a Russian-based crypto exchange that it says has facilitated payments in multiple attacks. In 2020, ransomware payments topped $ 400 million, four times more than the year before, officials said.

DOJ aims for “de facto merger” of airlines

The Ministry of Justice filed an antitrust complaint yesterday against American Airlines and JetBlue, arguing that a growing alliance between the two carriers is hurting consumers. In filing the lawsuit, officials called the cooperation a “de facto merger” between carriers in the New York and Boston markets. Attorneys general from six states and the District of Columbia have joined in the action. The airlines have said they plan to take the lawsuit to court.

It is the latest effort by the Biden administration to limit corporate power through antitrust actions. The airline industry’s problems during the pandemic, which crushed carriers’ revenues, did not appear to be factored into the decision to proceed. “Neither airline fails; they received billions of dollars in subsidies from American taxpayers during the pandemic, ”noted the prosecution, stressing that playing the role faulty farm card would not lower the antitrust standards set by the White House. (Support the industry with more than $ 50 billion in grants was itself contentious.)

“American has relentlessly pursued a strategy of consolidating the industry”, said the costume. “Unable to partner with foreign airlines through formal mergers, American instead pursued consolidation through a series of international joint ventures.” American is the world’s largest airline and, along with Delta, United, and Southwest, controls more than 80 percent of domestic air travel in the United States. According to Richard Powers, acting deputy attorney general in the Department of Justice’s antitrust division, JetBlue’s reputation for defying bigger rivals, forcing them to lower their rates from hubs like Boston, is a “critical source of competition.” eliminated by its partnership with American.

The government’s decision could destroy any plans for a future agreement with the airlines. Shares of one of the last remaining targets of a potentially passing takeover, Alaska Airlines, closed more than 1% yesterday and fell a little more in after-hours trading.