LONDON — British antitrust regulators are opening an investigation into Microsoft’s $16 billion acquisition of speech recognition company Nuance in the latest sign they’re tightening scrutiny of big technology deals.
The Competition and Markets Authority said in a brief statement Monday that it’s looking into the purchase because of concerns that it could result in a “substantial lessening of competition” in the U.K. market.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp. said in April that it was buying Nuance Communications Inc., a pioneer in voice-based artificial intelligence technology. Nuance was instrumental in helping power Apple’s digital assistant Siri but later shifted to focus on health care with widely used medical dictation and transcription tools.
