FTC’s antitrust chief, who spearheaded tech task force, to step down

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Trade Commission, which works with the Justice Department to enforce antitrust law, will lose the head of the Bureau of Competition next month, Chairman Joe Simons said in a statement on Friday.

Bruce Hoffman, who has been on the job for more than two years, was behind creation of the Technology Enforcement Division, a small task force that monitors big platforms like Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O), Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Simons said.

Hoffman’s deputy, Ian Conner, will succeed Hoffman, Simons said.

Hoffman is a veteran of two major law firms and spent four years as a trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, according to his LinkedIn page.