However, the emergence of B2Bs tweaks the basic characteristics that define a market, and each compositional shift raises potential antitrust issues. One issue that has attracted attention is whether B2Bs actually expand or limit the number of market participants. For example, an online marketplace could have a global reach, yet a B2B created by a small number of competing firms might exclude competitors who only have access to traditional markets. Such exclusion undermines competition, promoting the possibility of collusion and decreasing the efficiencies that might have been gained by operating online. In addition, the structure of a B2B could reduce innovation and produce higher prices than a traditional market.
Regulators are also concerned about information exchange.
For example, knowing a competitor's production costs might encourage collusion or speculative behavior that retards the market. To combat this problem, B2B's have created firewalls limiting how information exchanged over a B2B can be used to undermine competition. Outlook Predictions call for B2B online trading to rise to 6.3 trillion dollars a year in the next five years. Regulators have shown restraint in their approach to regulating this emerging way of doing business. In a recent report, the FTC announced that it will continue to apply traditional antitrust analysis to B2B electronic marketplaces.