The Norwegian competition authority has issued a warning to Retriever and Infomedia regarding their proposed merger, indicating that it may be blocked due to potential negative impacts on market competition. The authority's concerns center around the possibility that the merger could diminish competition among media monitoring services, resulting in increased prices and decreased quality for consumers.

Retriever and Infomedia are the two largest players in the media monitoring market in Norway, providing services such as media analysis and archiving. The merger would create a dominant entity in the market, raising alarms about the lack of sufficient competition from other smaller companies that offer similar services.

Project leader Magne Geber highlighted that the combined company would be the largest in the sector, which could lead to a significant reduction in competitive pressure. Acting department director Vegard Aandal-Nilsen expressed concerns that the merger could harm customers by leading to higher costs and lower service quality.

The competition authority has clarified that the warning is not a final decision. The companies involved have 15 working days to respond to the authority's concerns, after which the authority will have another 15 working days to reach a final decision. The deadline for this decision is set for June 25, 2025.