(Reuters)
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz is planning to step down as one of the country’s top monopoly-busters by the end of the year, The Post has learned.
But before the 54-year-old lawyer, a longtime consumer watchdog, returns to private life he may want to push an antitrust case against Google, sources familiar with the case said.
“They are going for the guts and the glory” on Google, a source close to Leibowitz said, noting that the regulator and Google are not close to a settlement.
The FTC as early as next week may make its findings clear to Google.
The FTC’s probe centers on whether Google favors its own products and search in its search results.
The Mountain View, Calif., company maintains changes to its search formula are aimed at giving customers better results.
Leibowitz’s expected departure, although it is not surprising for President Obama’s agency designees, may make it more likely that he will prosecute, a source close to the Google investigation said.
Leibowitz yesterday, speaking at an antitrust DC symposium, said, “I think that we’re going to try to get this [Google investigation] resolved by the end of the year.”
He was not asked, and did not speak about, how long he planned to stay at the FTC.
Leibowitz, who is expected to speak today at Fordham Law School, was designated FTC chairman by President Obama in March 2009.
European trustbusters have taken the lead in the Google probe and are close to a decision, the source said.
If Leibowitz weren’t leaving, the FTC might take longer than the end of the year to finish its case, a source said.
A suit might be filed under “Section Five,” which stops unfair methods of competition even when there is no proof of consumer harm.
Leibowitz yesterday in prepared remarks said, “We have not decided as a commission what we’re going to do, where we’re going to go with respect to Google. We’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing — we’re weighing the evidence, we’re thinking it through, in a collective, collaborative, bipartisan way.”
The chairman wants to resign after the Nov. 6 presidential election but before the end of the year, two sources said.
“It’s definitely happening,” one of the sources said.
The US Senate confirmed Leibowitz for a second seven-year term less than six months ago — on March 29.
Leibowitz, though, after more than 20 years of public service, wants to earn more money, a source said.
If Obama wins re-election, FTC Commissioner Julie Brill is most likely to replace him, a source said. She would then be in charge of prosecuting any Google case that may be filed.
Brill, like Leibowitz, is seen as fairly aggressive on consumer protection and antitrust laws.
Leibowitz is best known for winning a July appeals court decision against branded drug companies that pay generic drug makers to delay introducing generic drugs.
The FTC declined to comment.