Red Hat signs off last set of numbers before it is likely gobbled by IBM

Red Hat and IBM are pure US companies, why would internal business of this kind need external approval ? Any clue ? Thanks.

"A research report issued late last month by Manalo LLP, a London-based firm that provides research to investors around mergers and acquisitions, concluded that from an antitrust point of view, the proposed deal "has presented a degree of complexity due to the parties' long-standing vertical relationships." It contended that IBM and Red Hat act more as partners than competitors and collaborate closely on Linux.

The report noted that investigators could "probe whether IBM has enough incentive to shift or shape" their vertical relationship in a way that later on could prove anticompetitive. One possibility could be IBM holding up delivery to competitors of key software offerings or crippling compatibility with competitors' products.

"This parallels Apple's situation where they own a platform (the App Store) but are competing against companies selling apps on that same platform," Dzubeck said. "Some see this as a heavy conflict of interests.""

IBM-Red Hat merger timing, fairness in question https://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/news/252460581/IBM-R...

Thanks for the link @_seatex, yet still confusing to me.

> Red Hat and IBM are pure US companies, why would internal business of this kind need external approval ? Any clue ? Thanks.

They both have offices in multiple countries and do business world wide. For Red Hat, see https://www.redhat.com/en/about/around-the-world