Sky Blog
The U.S. is the largest market for merger and acquisition (“M&A”) activity, with nearly 7,900 transactions accounting for a record $2.6 trillion in value in 2021.[1] The primary M&A enforcement agencies in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) …
Over the last two decades, the dramatic increase in institutional investors’ ownership of rival companies has raised questions about collusive corporate policies.[1] However, it is still unclear how common shareholders engage with and influence corporate decision-making, especially when it …
In the U.S., some members of Congress and state AGs have advocated for greater antitrust scrutiny of industry-wide ESG initiatives, while other state AGs have argued that such initiatives are procompetitive. In the EU and the U.K., competition authorities have …
In April 2022, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) previewed the DOJ’s intent to more aggressively enforce the prohibition on interlocking directorates under Section 8 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 19. …
Last month, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced its first criminal attempted monopolization charges in more than 40 years. In the case, U.S. v. Zito, Nathan Nephi Zito, the owner of a Montana paving company, pleaded guilty to …
When Congress passed the FTC Act in 1914, it didn’t just create a new agency. It created new law for that agency to enforce. Section 5 of the Act provides that “unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce” are
Biden-appointed antitrust officials have asserted, unfairly in our view, that private equity firms deserve heightened scrutiny when they engage in corporate transactions. For example, the head of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division said in an interview with The Financial Times earlier …
Under the Biden administration, the U.S. antitrust agencies are taking an aggressive approach to merger enforcement, and have outlined strategies that move away from historical merger review tools in favor of more enforcement-friendly standards. But recent court decisions have tested …
After determining that the DOJ failed to meet its burden of proof, a Delaware federal court denied the government’s request to enjoin the $315 million acquisition of Imperial Sugar by U.S. Sugar. The court found that the DOJ failed to …
Boards are regularly called upon to guide management teams in answering the age-old strategic question: build or buy? But the already complex business calculus has become increasingly complicated in the past several years because of stepped up scrutiny of mergers …
Since President Biden issued his July 2021 Executive Order on Competition, the antitrust agencies have made broad policy statements promising more aggressive enforcement and have initiated a number of high-profile enforcement actions. Rather than establishing a record of success, the …
“Common Ownership” arises when shareholders hold substantial stakes in different firms that impose externalities on each other, and it challenges the assumption that firms act to maximize their own profits. While firm decisions are ordinarily made by its board of …
Is big business ungovernable? Some of today’s calls to break up and intensely regulate big business do not hinge on harms to consumers as consumers, but rather on the claim that giant corporations with market power treat legal requirements as …
On June 13, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) five commissioners aired their ideological differences over the regulation of private equity-backed consolidation and the tools used to police such deals via a consent agreement settling the FTC’s challenge to a …
From April 5 through April 8, 2022, the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association held its annual Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C. A prominent theme throughout the week was the role of the antitrust laws in the lives of …
Merger control authorities in many jurisdictions are taking a more aggressive and expansive approach when reviewing industry-consolidating transactions, and some are using the merger clearance process to advance policy objectives involving areas far beyond those of traditional competition. In addition, …
On February 17th, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an initiative to protect supply chains from anticompetitive behavior amid global disruptions and persistent inflation. The initiative is yet another example of the Biden Administration’s aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement since …
At a recent Enforcers Summit, leaders of various U.S. and international antitrust enforcement agencies set forth their enforcement priorities. The new heads of the U.S. antitrust agencies emphasized that the agencies are primed to litigate more cases, challenge more mergers, …
On Jan. 18, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division announced a joint public inquiry related to the federal merger guidelines, with the goal of “strengthening enforcement against illegal mergers.” Members of the …
Antitrust is back. The Chicago School relegated antitrust policy to obscurity during the latter half of the 20th century, but a new cohort of antimonopoly scholars has recently rekindled concerns about industrial consolidation and corporate “bigness.” This antitrust revival …