As previously highlighted in our inaugural Akin Agency Transparency In Merger Enforcement (TIME) Report, merger enforcement transparency fell to an all-time low under the Biden administration. A key driver towards that trend...more
More than 82% of merger enforcement actions announced by the U.S. antitrust agencies in 2024 involved a litigated challenge (complaint) or the deal being abandoned. But only 17 enforcement actions were reported in total—well...more
3/28/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
Transparency
The heightened focus on antitrust and competition issues that has defined dealmaking globally over the past few years looks set for readjustment since President Trump re-entered the White House. Under the Biden...more
2/14/2025
/ Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Big Tech ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Healthcare ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Presidential Appointments ,
Private Equity ,
Trump Administration
The Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR Act) requires all parties to transactions that meet certain transaction size and other tests to file premerger notification forms for mergers and other...more
The long-awaited new HSR rules have finally been released. On October 10, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), with concurrence of the Department of Justice (DOJ) (collectively, the Agencies), released the 460-page final...more
10/30/2024
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Requirements ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
New Rules ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements
Key Points -
The HSR Act requires parties that meet certain transaction size and other tests to file premerger notification forms for mergers and other transactions with both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and...more
On July 19, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) (collectively, the “Agencies”) issued a draft update of the Merger Guidelines (hereinafter, the “Proposed...more
For the first time in nearly 45 years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), with support from the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) (collectively, the “Agencies”), proposed a complete redesign of the...more
On February 13, 2023, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)...more
Key Points -
The HSR Act requires parties that meet certain transaction size and other tests to file premerger notification forms for mergers and other transactions with both the Federal Trade Commission and Department of...more
1/25/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Section 8 ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
Key Points -
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Fee Modernization Act into law as part of the $1.7 trillion omnibus government spending bill.
The Fee Modernization Act substantially increases HSR filing...more
Key Points -
As part of the antitrust agencies’ public commitment to investigate and prosecute competitive harm in labor markets, the DOJ Antitrust Division fined three major U.S. poultry processors and a data consulting...more
8/22/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Poultry ,
Sherman Act ,
State Data Privacy Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage-Fixing
Key Takeaways -
Prior informal interpretations from the Premerger Notification Office have permitted companies to exclude debt paid off at closing from the calculation of the statutory size of transaction test, under...more
Key Points Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) have temporarily suspended discretionary grants of early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR)...more
2/5/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
Key Points
- The Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 requires parties that meet certain transaction size and other tests to file premerger notification forms with both the Federal Trade Commission...more
2/3/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements
- The Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 requires parties that meet certain transaction size and other tests to file premerger notification forms with both the Federal Trade Commission and Department of...more
1/28/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements
• The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have indicated in the past that they believe that certain agreements between employers not to poach each other’s employees are...more
4/2/2019
/ Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Franchise Agreements ,
Franchisors ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Horizontal Restraint ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
No-Poaching ,
Per Se Rule ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
Vertical Restraints
• The Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 requires parties to transactions meeting certain size and other tests to file premerger notification forms with both the Federal Trade Commission and Department of...more
2/19/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Section 8 ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
In this episode, Akin Gump antitrust partners Gorav Jindal and Corey Roush discuss antitrust developments in 2018 and look at what 2019 may bring.
Among the topics covered:
• antitrust under the Trump administration
• major...more
1/10/2019
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Best Practices ,
Big Data ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Risk Allocation ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act ,
Trump Administration ,
Vertical Mergers
• The Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 requires parties to transactions meeting certain size and other tests to file premerger notification forms with both the Federal Trade Commission and Department of...more
• Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Makan Delrahim, the new head of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), recently announced a shift from the prior Administration’s focus on the dangers of patent “hold-up”...more
The White House announced yesterday that Makan Delrahim will be nominated to head up the United States Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. Delrahim, a long-time D.C. attorney with decades of policy and lobbying...more