NCAA vs. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma: A Win for Antitrust Law and College Football Fans
Under the old guard of the prior administration, private equity was repeatedly under fire for alleged “flip and strip” tactics that were supposedly “at odds with competition.” Now, with new enforcers in place, a different...more
After years of litigating its attempt to block Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently dropped its in-house challenge following the Ninth Circuit’s decision affirming...more
In a recent speech, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bill Rinner of the DOJ Antitrust Division outlined the Division’s approach to merger enforcement in the Trump administration under the leadership of Assistant Attorney...more
The Spring Meeting is the largest gathering of competition, consumer protection, and data privacy professionals globally, with lawyers, academics, economists, enforcers, journalists, and students from around the world....more
On March 7, 2025, the FTC filed a complaint in federal court seeking to block GTCR BC Holdings, LLC, a Chicago private equity firm, from acquiring Surmodics, Inc. The FTC alleges that Surmodics is the leading provider of a...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced the new filing fees, along with the annual adjustment to jurisdictional thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (“HSR”), as amended. The filing...more
On December 13, 2024, Judge Robert E. Payne of the Eastern District of Virginia, in a long-running private action that had previously found a consummated merger to be unlawful, overruled defendant’s objections to the required...more
On January 10, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its adjusted reporting thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (HSR Act). The FTC revises the HSR Act thresholds...more
On January 10, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced adjusted thresholds for merger notifications under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. Effective 30 days after the official publication date of the adjusted...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on January 10, 2025, increased reporting thresholds for transactions. Annually, the FTC reviews and adjusts the premerger notification reporting thresholds for reporting...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
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has revised the thresholds that govern pre-merger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”), and Section 8 of the...more
As expected, the mandatory notification thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the HSR Act), will be increasing. The Size of Transaction threshold will jump from $119.5 million,...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
The incoming Trump administration suggests a potential return to more traditional levels of antitrust enforcement for energy industry mergers and a departure from novel theories of harm seen under current Federal Trade...more
New U.S. merger control filing forms to take effect in February 2025 - Following publication in the Federal Register, the new Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) premerger notification forms will become effective on February 10, 2025....more
On October 24, 2024, Judge Jennifer L. Rochon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) motion for a preliminary injunction, thereby preliminarily...more
This newsletter is a summary of the antitrust developments we think are most interesting to your business. Roxane Hicheri (counsel based in Paris) and Mark Steenson (counsel based in London) are our editors this month. They...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced the launch of “an easily accessible online portal for the public to report health care...more
The American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s annual Spring Meeting concluded on April 12. The annual Spring Meeting featured updates from federal, state and international antitrust enforcers and extensive discussion...more
On December 18, 2023, The Federal Trade Commission and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice concluded a nearly two-year process of updating both the horizontal and vertical merger guidelines with the release of the...more
In prior posts, we discussed the draft, updated merger guidelines that had been issued by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice (sometimes referred to as the “Agencies”) in July of last year. At that...more
Oil and Gas Mergers and Acquistions: A $100 Billion Shift - As happens periodically, consolidation mania has once again seized the oilpatch. There have been multiple oil and gas acquisitions totaling over $100 billion by...more
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
The FTC and DOJ have continued their efforts to take action against private equity firms for engaging in serial acquisitions (so-called "roll-ups"). The agencies claim that these deals increase prices and degrade quality for...more