Columbia Law School
Sky Blog
Antitrust
How to Break Up Amazon
The Federal Trade Commission has accused Amazon of illegally maintaining its monopoly, extracting supra-competitive fees on merchants that use Amazon’s platform. If and when the fact-finder determines that Amazon violated the antitrust laws, we propose structural remedies to address the …
Skadden Discusses Different Enforcement Approaches of EU, UK, and U.S. on Antitrust and Sustainability
On October 12, 2023, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued its final Green Agreements Guidance (Guidance). The Guidance is designed to help businesses seeking to collaborate on environmental sustainability initiatives by providing greater clarity on when UK competition …
Morrison & Foerster Discusses Antitrust Actions for Third Quarter 2023
The third quarter of 2023 was eventful for both domestic and international cartel enforcers.
In the United States, the Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to revamp policies to sharpen its enforcement efforts. On October 4, 2023, the Deputy Attorney General …
How Monopolies Harm Content Moderation Online
Industrial organization and content moderation online are inextricably linked, with just a few corporations owning and operating the most important online communications platforms. In a recent paper, I show that those corporations’ market power is at the core of dysfunction …
Paul Weiss Discusses Proposed Merger Guidelines and Private Equity
The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a draft overhaul of their merger guidelines. The merger guidelines are intended to describe how the agencies evaluate mergers and reach decisions on …
Does Sharing a Board Member Stifle Worker Mobility?
In the late 2000s, eight prominent tech firms – including Google, Apple, Intuit, and LucasFilms – were accused of enforcing anti-poaching agreements that stifled worker mobility. The seven publicly listed firms in the group shared a number of directors, and …
Davis Polk Discusses FTC Challenge to Director Interlock at Non-Corporate Entity
On August 16, 2023, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had simultaneously sued and approved a settlement (a consent order) related to the proposed acquisition of EQT Corporation by funds managed by Quantum Energy Partners (Quantum). The …
Paul Hastings Discusses New Draft Antitrust Merger Guidelines
The Department of Justice Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission issued new draft Merger Guidelines on July 19 that aim to significantly increase scrutiny of merger activity. The new Merger Guidelines would replace prior pronouncements of antitrust policy from the …
Davis Polk Discusses Antitrust Agencies’ Proposed Overhaul of HSR Filing Requirements
On June 27, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR) Form and Instructions.1 According to FTC Chair Lina Khan’s accompanying statement, the NPRM is the result of …
FTC Chair Lina Khan on Proposed Amendments to Premerger Notification Form and Hart-Scott-Rodino Rules
Today [June 27], the Federal Trade Commission, with the collaboration and concurrence of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, is issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) to amend the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Form and Instructions.1 This marks the first time
U.S. Assistant AG Speaks on Antitrust Enforcement in Bank Mergers
Sixty years ago, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in United States v. Philadelphia National Bank.[1] Today, I would like to discuss the enduring impact of this landmark case.
Philadelphia National Bank is well known in banking
Cleary Gottlieb Discusses New York Bill Banning All Non-Competes
Earlier this week, the New York State legislature passed a bill banning all non-competes entered into on or after 30 days past the bill’s enactment, including those entered into by employees or in connection with the sale of a business. …
Skadden Discusses the FTC’s Plan To Limit Noncompetes
As part of its declared focus on fostering competition in the labor market, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed to ban most noncompetition agreements, or noncompetes, restricting the activities of former employees. Noncompetes can be a useful tool for …
Skadden Discusses DOJ Loss in Fourth Criminal No-Poach Case
In the latest setback in the Department Justice Antitrust Division’s (DOJ) attempts to prosecute “no-poach” agreements criminally, a federal judge acquitted from the bench all six defendant employees of aerospace engineering companies alleged to have allocated a labor market by …
Paul Weiss Discusses FTC Divestiture Order in Vertical Merger Case
In a lengthy opinion made public two weeks ago, the FTC, by a vote of 4-0, determined that Illumina’s acquisition of GRAIL may substantially lessen competition in a market for the “research, development, and commercialization of MCED [multi-cancer early detection] …
Do Board Connections Between Product Market Peers Impede Competition?
If you have a pet, you may wonder why pet-food prices have increased so much recently, 15.1 percent year-over-year in January 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.1 A recent complaint filed with the Justice Department suggests …
Gibson Dunn Discusses DOJ, FTC Antitrust Summit
On March 27, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Federal Trade Commission (together, the “Agencies”) hosted international and state antitrust enforcers for panel discussions on current and emerging enforcement trends.Agency leaders Assistant Attorney General (“AAG”) Jonathan Kanter and …
Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses ESG and Antitrust
Companies, banks, insurers and asset managers are increasingly working together within their industries on environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) initiatives to achieve shared goals on climate change, labor rights and other social issues. In the eyes of many, collective action …
The Great Startup Sellout and the Rise of Oligopoly
Startup acquisitions by incumbent firms have been on the rise for the last few years. These acquisitions often allow larger companies to acquire new technologies or talent, while startups gain access to resources and a wider customer base. One notable …