The Commission said in its statement that, although IBM is
probably the supplier with the “broadest range of IT products and
services available in-house”, the operation of the combined company
will not result in the creation or strengthening of any dominant
position, since the company holds no dominant position on packaged
IT solutions.
It also pointed out that the merged entity will face a
“significant number of global viable competitors,” as well as a
large number of regional or local competitors in Europe.
The purchase of PwC’s global management consulting unit by IBM
was announced in July 2002, and was approved by PwC partners and
the US authorities earlier this month.
The acquired PwC consulting will be integrated into IBM’s
corporate structure and will operate under the IBM brand. The
combined company of approximately 180,000 employees will be the
largest IT services provider worldwide.
