Friday, January 11, 2013

Bazaarvoice Hit With DOJ Lawsuit Over PowerReviews Buy

Austin-based Bazaarvoice is the target of a lawsuit from the Department of Justice, over the company's acquisition of PowerReviews in June of last year, according to legal filings Thursday. The U.S. Department of Justice claims that the acquisition of PowerReviews--which also provided online, ratings and reviews for e-commerce retailers--reduced competition in the sector. As part of the complaint, the US DOJ released a string of internal emails where Bazaarvoice execs discussed the need to reduce competition through the acquisition. The DOJ has been probing Bazaarvoice since June of last year, when word first filtered out over anti-trust concerns by the DOJ.