The two U.S. antitrust authorities—the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, the “Agencies”)—have jointly proposed new Draft Merger Guidelines to replace...more
On July 10, 2023, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) request to grant a preliminary injunction of Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of...more
On April 26, 2023, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard over concerns the deal “would alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming...more
On February 2, 2023, Doha Mekki, Principal Deputy Attorney General (DAAG) for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, announced the agency’s withdrawal of three enforcement policy statements related to...more
2/7/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Joint Venture ,
Mergers ,
Personal Information ,
Sherman Act
On January 23, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released the revised Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act jurisdictional thresholds for 2023. The FTC is required by law to revise the HSR Act monetary jurisdictional thresholds...more
2/1/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-1 to propose the Noncompete Clause Rule (the rule), which would ban essentially all noncompete clauses that employers impose on their employees and other workers....more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an administrative complaint to block Microsoft Corporation’s (Microsoft’s) nearly $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Activision), the largest video game acquisition...more
12/13/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Administrative Complaints ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Gaming ,
Microsoft ,
Online Gaming
In what might be a further expansion of antitrust enforcement of interlocking directorates, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a policy statement announcing that it now interprets Section 5 of the FTC Act to grant it...more
11/15/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Section 5 ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act ,
Unfair Competition ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) in-house administrative law judge (ALJ) has handed the FTC a loss in its suit to reverse the completed acquisition of GRAIL, Inc. by Illumina, Inc. This is the FTC's second high-profile...more
In what appears to be a significant expansion of its antitrust enforcement efforts, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued letters to multiple public companies, investors, and individuals this week, stating it may bring...more
9/23/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Safe Harbors ,
The Clayton Act
Wilson Sonsini provides extensive and cutting-edge legal services for innovators, technology pioneers, and disruptors. As part of our focus on emerging technologies, our attorneys are publishing a series on applying and...more
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
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
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 September 21, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced two proposed changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act of 1976, as amended, implementing rules. These changes could significantly increase the reporting...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