Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) Bill Rinner’s stated goal for his June 4 speech was to provide insight into how the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, will “handle merger review to ensure procedural fairness and robust enforcement.” The promised guiding principle will be that a healthy dealmaking market is important to competition and economic growth, but robust antitrust enforcement is critical to vigorous competition.
On June 2, the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, agreed to its first settlement of a merger challenged under the new administration, less than one week after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) entered into its first such settlement. The consent decree will require the divestiture of three businesses and will allow Keysight Technologies, Inc. to complete its proposed $1.5 billion acquisition of Spirent Communications plc.
Within hours of each other, an Oregon federal district court followed by a Washington state court enjoined the $24.6 billion merger of the Kroger and Albertsons grocery chains. The Oregon court adopted the controversial 2023 Merger Guidelines’ market concentration presumption and largely accepted the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) and its expert’s arguments for a narrow grocery market. In a loss for the FTC, the Oregon court declined to find that the proposed transaction was likely to substantially harm competition in the labor market alleged.
The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and several state attorneys general are challenging the American Airlines Group, Inc. (American) collaboration with competitor JetBlue Airways Corp. (JetBlue). Both sides to the dispute accuse the other of harming competition among airlines. On September 21, the DOJ and its state attorney general partners filed
On September 23, the U.S. Senate advanced legislation that puts all businesses at risk of defending antitrust lawsuits across different jurisdictions at the same time. Senate Bill 1787 (S. 1787) — the Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act of 2021 — prevents defendants from transferring state antitrust lawsuits to more favorable venues. This regulatory action is part
Additional authors: Robin P. Sumner and Samuel D. Harrison
On April 22 the Supreme Court held in AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC[1] that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) does not have authority under the Federal Trade Commission Act Section 13(b) to seek, nor a court to award, equitable monetary relief, such as restitution
While the debate continues about whether the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the authority to make rules governing antitrust or competition law issues, on March 25, Acting FTC Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter announced the creation of a new group focused, in part, on new rules to prohibit unfair or deceptive practices and unfair methods of
Over the past several years, the Democratic commissioners of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have made clear their dissatisfaction with the agency’s historic treatment of pharmaceutical mergers. Now, it appears that the FTC has launched a process aimed at changing the way in which such transactions are analyzed and ultimately resolved.
Past dissenting statements