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
As the Trump administration’s approach to antitrust takes shape through political appointments, policy statements, speeches, and enforcement actions, our team is tracking the latest developments and will provide important...more
As the Trump administration’s approach to antitrust takes shape through political appointments, policy statements, speeches, and enforcement actions, our team is tracking new developments and will provide important updates on...more
Starting today, February 10, 2025, all merger filings will be subject to new Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) rules. The new HSR rules will fundamentally alter the premerger notification process, and substantially increase the...more
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
In the final week of the Biden administration, the antitrust enforcement agencies – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) – released two policies potentially impacting labor markets. The...more
1/23/2025
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Policies ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
NLRA ,
Policy Statement ,
Unions
While they have long taken a back seat to federal merger reviews, US states are becoming increasingly involved in merger reviews, including potentially requiring premerger notifications on a broad scale. On July 24, 2024, the...more
8/9/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Healthcare ,
Joint Venture ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State Attorneys General
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
On March 24, 2020, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and US Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a Joint Antitrust Statement Regarding COVID-19. In this statement, the FTC and DOJ recognize that public health efforts in...more
Today the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released joint guidance concerning competition for biologics, including biosimilars. The joint guidance seeks to enhance competition for...more
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 US Department of Justice (DOJ) recently sued former joint venture partners because they allegedly coordinated their competitive activities beyond the legitimate scope of their venture. This case illustrates several...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
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