After the FTC issued a replacement of the 2016 Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals on January 16, 2025, Commissioner – now Chair – Andrew N. Ferguson, joined by Commissioner Melissa Holyoak, punctuated his...more
Over the past few weeks, several Trump Administration antitrust enforcers at both the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ Antitrust”) have written or spoken about the...more
5/7/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
America First Trade Policy ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Trump Administration
After the FTC issued a replacement of the 2016 Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals on January 16, 2025, Commissioner – now Chair – Andrew N. Ferguson, joined by Commissioner Melissa Holyoak, punctuated his...more
1/31/2025
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Banking Sector ,
Competition ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Unfair Competition
When considering the health care enforcement landscape in 2024 and where it might be headed in 2025, we would be remiss if we did not address the enforcement activities of state and federal agencies beyond those typically...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Friday increased jurisdictional thresholds for (1) notifications under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the HSR Act), (2) the HSR Act filing fee schedule,...more
1/15/2025
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) (collectively, the “Agencies”) published the long-awaited final 2023 Merger Guidelines. The 2023 Merger Guidelines are informed...more
12/29/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity ,
Request For Information ,
The Clayton Act ,
Transparency ,
Vertical Mergers
On July 19, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) (collectively, the “Agencies”) published Draft Merger Guidelines. The Draft Merger Guidelines, if adopted, would replace both the...more
The Federal Trade Commission, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, recently released a summary of the Agencies’ June 2022 joint workshop titled “The Future of Pharmaceuticals: Examining the...more
Congress passed the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022 (“Filing Fee Modernization Act”) on December 23, 2022 as part of a broader omnibus spending bill. It was signed into law by President Biden on December 29, 2022....more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published today in the Federal Register increased jurisdictional thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the “HSR...more
As has been expected, on January 18, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced in a joint press conference an initiative to review and revise the...more
Back in December, we wrote about a district court ruling rejecting the Federal Trade Comission’s (“FTC”) motion to enjoin the proposed combination of Thomas Jefferson University (“TJU”) and Albert Einstein Healthcare Network...more
Lower jurisdictional thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the “HSR Act”), as amended, are scheduled to be published by the Federal Trade Commission...more
2/10/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
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 Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) recent winning streak in its ongoing challenges of hospital and physician mergers has, at least for now, ended in a Philadelphia U.S. district court. After six days of evidentiary...more
On Wednesday, an FTC Commissioner used the occasion of a routine report to Congress to send a warning shot to private equity firms, especially those rolling up health care providers. Commissioner Rohit Chopra, an advisor to...more
In the process of green-lighting a vertical merger with a firewall remedy, the current Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) exposed a significant partisan divergence in the commissioners’ approach to vertical...more
The Premerger Notification Office (the “PNO”) of the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) recently issued a reminder about often overlooked “transactions” that may require notification under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust...more
5/21/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Failure-to-File ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Voting Securities
Since 2013, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has faced a series of purported class actions consolidated in the U.S. District Court in Alabama. In a recent decision focused upon the appropriate standard of review, the...more
4/16/2018
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Best Efforts Clauses ,
Blue Cross ,
Health Care Providers ,
License Agreements ,
Mergers ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
Per Se Rule ,
Price-Fixing ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
Sherman Act ,
Single Entity Rule ,
Standard of Review
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on January 26, 2018, increased jurisdictional thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the HSR...more
1/29/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Reporting Requirements ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Voting Securities
On January 31, 2013, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed its first lawsuit challenging a merger under newly sworn-in Assistant Attorney General, William J. Baer. Both the facts and circumstances...more