JANUARY – MARCH 2025: KEY THEMES AND TAKEAWAYS -
UNITED STATES -
FTC Loses Vertical Challenge to Tempur Sealy/Mattress Firm
On July 2, 2024, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit in federal court seeking to block...more
5/6/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Big Tech ,
Competition ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Foreign Subsidies ,
Merger Controls ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Trump Administration ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
Vertical Mergers
IN THIS JANUARY 2025 ISSUE -
In the fourth quarter of 2024, US antitrust regulators continued their rigorous scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions. The US Department of Justice (DOJ), under the leadership of the outgoing...more
UNITED STATES -
- Agencies Revisiting Consummated Mergers -
What’s old is new again, as agencies are increasingly scrutinizing consummated mergers from years past. In May 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Antitrust...more
7/29/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Competition ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Energy Sector ,
EU ,
EUMR ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mergers ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
Request For Information ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
UNITED STATES -
Proposed Merger Guidelines Outline Fundamental Change of Approach to Merger Investigation and Enforcement -
On July 19, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ)...more
10/27/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Competition ,
Enforcement ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Investigations ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
UNITED STATES -
Wilson Resigns as FTC Commissioner -
On February 14, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) lone Republican commissioner, Christine Wilson, announced that she was resigning. Wilson explained her decision...more
4/21/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Foreign Subsidies ,
Healthcare ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Investigations ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity ,
Settlement Agreements ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
APRIL – JUNE 2022: KEY THEMES AND TAKEAWAYS -
UNITED STATES -
• An Overview of Agency Merger Challenges from January 2021 through June 2022 Parties continue to be cautious in litigating challenged transactions. Since...more
9/26/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Foreign Subsidies ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Healthcare ,
Investment ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Private Equity ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
JANUARY – MARCH 2021: HIGHLIGHTS -
UNITED STATES -
- As the United States rounds the corner toward getting the COVID-19 epidemic under control within its borders, the US antitrust enforcers have seen a major spike in...more
5/4/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Competition ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
European Merger Control Regulation ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Healthcare ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Technology ,
UK
The US antitrust regulators continue to challenge consummated transactions. On January 3, 2020, the FTC filed an administrative complaint against Axon Enterprise, Inc., challenging its consummated acquisition of VieVu, a...more
1/20/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements
For the first time since the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) published non-horizontal merger guidelines in 1984, the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued updated Vertical Merger Guidelines to explain...more
1/15/2020
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Comment Period ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Draft Guidance ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Information Sharing ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Public Comment ,
Supply Chain ,
Vertical Mergers
Three recent antitrust merger reviews involving nascent competition demonstrate enforcers are paying close attention to acquisitions by industry leaders of emerging, but early-stage competitors. The US antitrust agencies have...more
The challenges that the government faces in litigating vertical mergers was illustrated in the DOJ’s recent loss in its challenge of AT&T’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner. The result provides guidance for how companies...more
6/20/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
AT&T ,
Bargaining Power ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mergers ,
Telecommunications ,
Time Warner ,
Vertical Mergers
The Chinese government announced on March 13, 2018 that it will consolidate the duties of three competition agencies into a new government agency to handle all antitrust matters. While it is too early to tell how this...more
In Depth -
In the last year, the US antitrust regulators successfully challenged multiple transactions in court and forced companies to abandon several other transactions as a result of threatened enforcement actions....more