Big Tech investors shrug off antitrust developments as Klobuchar pitches sweeping reform

Big Tech investors shrug off antitrust developments as Klobuchar pitches sweeping reform

Senator Amy Klobuchar released a sweeping antitrust reform bill on Thursday in one of her first acts as the Senate Judiciary subcommittee's new chair on antitrust.

While new antitrust regulations might normally cause shares of mega-cap tech companies to fall, investors seem to have mostly shrugged off the proposed bill. Shares of such juggernauts as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet ranged from slightly lower to flat on Thursday.

Sen. Klobuchar's Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act combines a number of existing proposals into one omnibus bill with the goal of preventing monopolies from limiting competition in the US.

"We have a major monopoly problem in this country, which harms consumers and threatens free and fair competition across our economy. Companies need to be put on notice that exclusionary behavior that threatens competition cannot continue," Klobuchar said in a statement discussing the bill.

Read more: Famed short-seller Carson Block says a new type of liquidity bubble is feeding the wild swings in day-trading favorites like GameStop - and warns that stocks have become a fragile 'game'

The bill would increase the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission's ability to fine big tech companies for breaching anti-trust laws. Currently, the max fine is $100 million, but Klobuchar's