Microsoft's take-over of RAV, endorsed

The Competition Council authorised the transaction by which Microsoft acquired the assets of RAV Antivirus from the domestic company GeCAD Software this June, feeling it will not harm the competition climate on the market of anti-virus products. According to the Competition Council, the economic concentration will not cause competition to shrink since Microsoft had not been present on the Romanian anti-virus market before this deal, and RAV Antivirus held an 8-11% market share. Consequently, the competition control body showed that, irrespective of the position Microsoft held on other segments of the commercial software market, the company could not make use of its position to eliminate its rivals on the anti-virus software market. Microsoft, the largest software developer in the world, in June signed an agreement for the acquisition of the intellectual property and anti-virus technology of GeCAD, a transaction sources close to the two companies estimated to about 10 million dollars at the time. ZF