NCAA vs. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma: A Win for Antitrust Law and College Football Fans
On May 7, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court opinion that denied the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) motion for a preliminary injunction against Microsoft’s acquisition of...more
There were a number of significant developments in antitrust law in 2024, including some major wins for the government in merger enforcement, increased focus on competition concerns related to algorithmic pricing, and...more
In a December 2023 statement, the White House detailed its intention to encourage antitrust enforcers to scrutinize anticompetitive acquisitions and anticompetitive practices in health care. Specifically, the statement...more
On Monday, the FTC lost its bid to preliminarily enjoin Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, the maker of the popular video game, “Call of Duty.” Based on a vertical foreclosure theory, this case marks the fourth loss for...more
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week that directors at several technology companies have resigned as a consequence of the agency’s renewed focus on overlapping board membership between...more
On October 19, 2022, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice announced that seven directors resigned from five different US public company boards of directors following DOJ concerns that their roles violated...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has lost the first round of its challenge to Altria Group, Inc.’s (Altria) $12.8 billion acquisition of a 35 percent stake in JUUL Labs, Inc. (JLI). On February 17, 2022, an agency...more
On November 2, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit seeking to block Penguin Random House's proposed acquisition of Simon & Schuster. This lawsuit further demonstrates the Biden Administration's...more
On June 28, 2021, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted Facebook’s motions to dismiss two parallel antitrust complaints filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a group...more
Federal antitrust enforcers have long succeeded at unwinding consummated mergers. By contrast, private antitrust plaintiffs have not successfully forced companies to break up a completed acquisition. Until now. On February...more
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 Situation:The U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") has sued to block a proposed acquisition of Aleris Corporation by Novelis Inc. In an unprecedented move, the parties and DOJ agreed to refer the "dispositive" issue of...more
The past month has seen interesting developments in the antitrust M&A arena, including the first ever successful private antitrust merger challenge resulting in a divestiture order, and the announcement by the Department of...more
A federal district court has ordered a defendant in private antitrust litigation to divest a manufacturing plant following a competitor's merger challenge. Although the decision is certain to be appealed, it may embolden...more
Despite widespread skepticism that antitrust enforcement would be a Trump administration priority, activity has not lessened. In fact, there has been a substantial increase in challenges to mergers and acquisitions that...more
The list of non-reportable transactions challenged after the fact by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission continues to grow. Most recently, the FTC sued Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. to...more
The Federal Trade Commission’s recently announced proposed settlement of its challenge of CentraCare Health’s acquisition of St. Cloud Medical Group (SCMG) is doubly noteworthy. The settlement ends the challenge of a...more