Eric Schmidt ran Google during its ascendance into one of the world’s most powerful companies, and before regulators on multiple continents ramped up investigations into its potential abuses of power. Today, Schmidt said he fears that antitrust probes into Google and other tech giants will have a “chilling effect” on innovation in the industry.
In a conversation with The Information founder Jessica Lessin at The Information’s Future of Startups conference, Schmidt pointed to the availability of affordable, superpowerful cellphones and other devices as evidence that the biggest tech companies foster competition rather than squelch it.
