On July 19, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced they were joining forces to “bolster the FTC's efforts to protect workers by promoting competitive U.S. labor...more
On July 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion for an emergency preliminary injunction to abrogate Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation's (Booz Allen's) merger agreement with EverWatch Corp....more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a consent agreement requiring divestitures as a condition of Buckeye Partners, L.P.'s (Buckeye's) $435 million acquisition of 26 petroleum terminals from Magellan Midstream...more
The FTC's case against Facebook will be allowed to proceed now that the district court has held its Amended Complaint plausibly alleged violations of Section 2 of the Sherman Act related to Facebook's acquisition of Instagram...more
1/19/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Big Tech ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Instagram ,
Monopolization ,
Sherman Act ,
Social Media ,
WhatsApp
On September 15, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hosted its third open meeting in as many months. The commission adopted the four items on its agenda and FTC staff gave a presentation on its study of acquisitions by...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revised and refiled its complaint against Facebook, once again asserting Facebook throttled competition in the market for “personal social networking services.” The revised complaint...more
More than halfway through year one of the Biden administration, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are flexing their muscles and confirming the early consensus view that antitrust risk would be...more
On July 9, 2021, President Biden signed the Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy (EO), which states that "excessive market concentration threatens basic economic liberties, democratic...more
On July 1, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held its first open meeting in decades. At the meeting, the FTC adopted the four items on its agenda, all along partisan lines. The Commission rescinded the 2015 Statement of...more
In recent years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched significant investigations into mergers between distributors, with the merging parties resolving the FTC’s concerns through consent, by abandoning the...more
On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (the Agencies) issued new guidelines governing for vertical mergers and acquisitions. The Guidelines replace and supersede the DOJ's...more
The COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented challenges for merging parties and enforcement agencies.1 In the U.S., it has caused both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to alter their...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued revised Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act jurisdictional thresholds for the upcoming year, the announcement of which was delayed due to the recent federal government shutdown. The FTC...more
2/21/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
On October 22, 2016, AT&T announced its $108 billion proposed acquisition of Time Warner. After a year-plus investigation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit to enjoin the merger, alleging that the transaction would...more
6/20/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
AT&T ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Media ,
Multichannel Video Programming ,
Time Warner
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued guidance explaining how parties to a merger or acquisition can reduce antitrust risk when exchanging competitively sensitive information prior to closing. The exchange of...more
As it does every year at this time, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued revised Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR) jurisdictional thresholds for the upcoming year. The FTC is required by law to revise the filing thresholds...more
On September 26, 2017, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware challenging Parker-Hannifin Corporation's (Parker's) consummated acquisition of CLARCOR, Inc....more
Humana recently lost its effort to limit third-party discovery requests served by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its ongoing Walgreens/Rite Aid investigation. Typically, negotiations over the scope of third-party...more
6/22/2017
/ Antitrust Investigations ,
CID ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Discovery ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Humana ,
Market Participants ,
Mergers ,
Rite Aid ,
Subpoenas ,
Third-Party ,
Walgreens
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced that Invibio, which sells high-performance polymer for medical implants, has settled charges that the company monopolized sales to medical device makers through unlawful...more
5/12/2016
Nearly a year and a half after the deal was announced, on April 6, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) challenged Halliburton's proposed $35 billion acquisition of rival oilfield services provider Baker Hughes. The DOJ...more
On February 18, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched two proceedings designed to promote competition in the video marketplace—a proposed rulemaking related to devices used to access traditional TV...more
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defended its most recent iteration of net neutrality regulations against a challenge by the telecom, cable, and wireless industry and trade associations. Two prior...more