The Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (together the “Agencies”) submitted a note about efficiencies in merger control in connection with a June 17, 2025 Organisation for...more
6/26/2025
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Government Agencies ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
OECD ,
Trump Administration
Antitrust experts from across the globe convened in Washington, D.C. on April 2–4, 2025 to discuss new enforcement policies and share updates on current issues in antitrust. We provide the key highlights from numerous panels...more
4/9/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Biden Administration ,
Cartels ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mergers ,
No-Poaching ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Tariffs ,
Technology Sector ,
Trump Administration
Antitrust enforcers and private plaintiffs over the past few years have pursued increasingly aggressive theories of liability based on information exchange and the use of algorithmic pricing and revenue management software....more
12/20/2024
/ Algorithms ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Information Sharing ,
Price-Fixing ,
Rental Property ,
Trump Administration
On October 10, 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted 5-0 to adopt new Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) rules, which will substantially expand filing requirements for parties when the new rules go into effect. The...more
10/14/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Best Practices ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Fast Track Process ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Requirements ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Lead Supervisory Authority ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity ,
Suppliers
On August 5, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a proposed settlement with Legends Hospitality Parent Holdings (“Legends”), a global venue services company, in connection with its proposed acquisition of ASM...more
8/15/2024
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Securities Transactions ,
Waiting Periods
On May 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Antitrust Division announced a Request for Information (“RFI”) seeking information from the public to “identify serial acquisitions...more
6/5/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Healthcare ,
Pricing ,
Public Comment ,
Request For Information ,
Suppliers ,
The Clayton Act
On December 18—nearly two years after announcing plans to revise the Merger Guidelines—the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (together, “the Agencies”) issued a final version of their new...more
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, the “Agencies”) released for public comment draft Merger Guidelines that outline how the agencies evaluate proposed deals. The Agencies have...more
7/28/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Draft Guidance ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Foreclosure ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Market Manipulation ,
Market-Sharing ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Minority Shareholders ,
Vertical Mergers
On June 27, 2023, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), with the collaboration and concurrence of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “Notice”)...more
Antitrust practitioners from around the world gathered in Washington, D.C. the week of March 27, 2023, for a series of industry meetings, centered around the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s 71st Annual Spring...more
4/11/2023
/ Algorithms ,
Anti-Monopoly ,
Antitrust Division ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Cartels ,
Collusion ,
Competition ,
Consent Decrees ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Mergers ,
Price-Fixing ,
Robinson-Patman Act ,
Sherman Act ,
Wage-Fixing
On February 2, 2023, the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division, Doha Mekki, announced that the DOJ was withdrawing three policy statements outlining safe...more
Following a year of unprecedented M&A deal activity, 2022 saw the global M&A market settle back into a more familiar pace. The year finished 38.8% lower than 2021’s record level, but only 9.3% lower than 2015-2019 averages,...more
1/23/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
CFIUS ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Excise Tax ,
Export Controls ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Foreign Investment ,
Mergers ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
National Security ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
REIT ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Technology ,
UK
Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (the “Act”) on December 22, 2022, and President Biden signed it into law on December 29, 2022. The Act significantly amends the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (the “HSR Act”)...more
1/11/2023
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Blocked Person ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Foreign Entities ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
SDN List ,
State Attorneys General
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a proposed rule broadly seeking to ban non-compete agreements with nearly all U.S. workers, with only limited exceptions. The proposed rule would:
•make it...more
Recent scrutiny of interlocking directorates – when a person serves as an officer or board director of two competing corporations – by the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission...more
The Biden Administration intends to reshape merger enforcement as part of its broader initiative to change U.S. antitrust law. In keeping with the Administration’s goals, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department...more
9/16/2022
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
Request For Information ,
State Attorneys General ,
Vertical Mergers
2021 M&A smashed U.S. and global records. The year saw the arrival of a new U.S. administration, the release of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as continued questions regarding the impact of the pandemic, including the year-end...more
1/21/2022
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
CFIUS ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Digital Services ,
EU ,
Excise Tax ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Global Market ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
NYSE ,
PIPEs ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
REIT ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
UK ,
Universal Proxy Cards ,
Vertical Mergers
On January 18, 2022, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) held a joint press conference to announce the launch of a broad‑ranging public inquiry aimed at...more
On November 16, 2021, the Senate voted 68–29 to confirm Jonathan Kanter as the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Kanter’s confirmation is significant because the...more
On July 9, 2021, President Biden signed a sweeping executive order (EO) creating a “whole-of-government competition policy” that directs more than a dozen federal agencies to work in concert with the Department of Justice...more
M&A in the media industry is about to pick up. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2017 rollback of media ownership limits. Media companies that once avoided specific...more
5/3/2021
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FCC ,
FCC v Prometheus Radio Project ,
Judicial Review ,
Media ,
Popular ,
Radio Broadcasting ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
SCOTUS ,
Standard of Review ,
State Attorneys General ,
Television Broadcast Stations
Are the stars aligning for antitrust reform? President Biden is filling key positions in the White House (Timothy Wu, National Economic Council) and reportedly at the FTC (Lina Khan, commissioner) with lawyers who have...more