GOOGLE, PANDORA INVESTIGATED

The Federal Trade Commission is considering an antitrust investigation of Google's dominance of the search industry, while a federal grand jury has served a subpoena to online music service Pandora to produce documents for a probe into information sharing by mobile applications.

The FTC is waiting for the Justice Department to decide whether it will challenge Google's planned $700 million purchase of airline ticketing software company, ITA Software. The two agencies share responsibility for investigating antitrust claims and could negotiate which one of them will pursue a major investigation into Google.

Google's dominance in search is inviting heightened regulatory scrutiny around the world, including an ongoing investigation by the European Commission, which began last November.

Last week, rival Microsoft filed a formal complaint with European antitrust regulators, claiming that Google systematically thwarts Internet search competition.

Pandora, which has already filed papers for an anticipated IPO, has been requested to produce documents in connection with a federal grand jury investigation into the information sharing processes of certain popular applications that run on the Apple and Android mobile platforms.

Apple and Google provide two of the most popular software systems for mobile devices.

Pandora, which filed for its IPO in February, said it was informed that it is not a target of the investigation, adding, "We believe that similar subpoenas were issued on an industry-wide basis to the publishers of numerous other smart phone applications."