As the Trump administration’s antitrust landscape continues to develop, companies should stay alert to key changes in merger filing requirements, remedy expectations, agency personnel, and more. Signs indicate we are entering...more
4/16/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
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
WHAT HAPPENED -
• Seven directors resigned from corporate boards following promises of enforcement of Clayton Act Section 8 (15 U.S.C. § 19) by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Antitrust Division (the Division), the...more
10/24/2022
/ Administrative Resignation ,
Antitrust Division ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Private Equity ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Section 8 ,
The Clayton Act
WHAT HAPPENED -
During a conference last week, Ryan Danks, Director of Civil Enforcement at the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ), suggested that merging parties—not the antitrust enforcement...more
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted July 21, 2021, to repeal a 1995 policy statement that eliminated prior approval and prior notice provisions from most merger settlements. In repealing this longstanding policy—and...more
In the United States, despite requesting additional time to review pending mergers, the US antitrust agencies have continued their work through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade...more
9/3/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Customers ,
Deadlines ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Investigations ,
Mergers ,
Remote Depositions ,
Remote Hearings ,
Settlement Agreements ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ,
Videoconference
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 agencies continue to be aggressive and have blocked transactions or required significant remedies during the second quarter. The agencies cleared three mergers where divestitures were required. In the face of Federal...more
8/28/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
French Competition Authority ,
Institutional Investors ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Sherman Act
Yesterday, September 24, 2018, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim announced a series of reforms with the express goal to resolve most merger investigations within six months of filing. The reforms seek to place the...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