Sky Blog
On February 4, 2021, Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Antitrust Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill entitled “The Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act” (the “Bill”). If enacted, the Bill would fundamentally revise longstanding U.S. …
Deal activity (or inactivity) for much of 2020 was driven first by the unprecedented uncertainty and massive global shutdown of the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, and then propelled by rising markets and confidence as animal spirits anticipated the …
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) has made good on a promise it made over four years ago to criminally charge companies that agree not to solicit each other’s employees in so-called “no poach” agreements or that agree …
President-elect Biden has yet to name the officials who will oversee antitrust enforcement in his administration. Therefore, the focus of the administration’s substantive agenda remains to be seen. However, the staffs of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of …
Sustainability issues are increasingly high on the list of competition policy priorities both at the European Union and member state levels. The European Commission (EC) and national competition authorities are actively rethinking how competition policy can better support the transition …
Republican and Democratic leaders have both called for greater scrutiny of the power and influence of Big Tech firms, but, unsurprisingly, they have disagreed about how to address the problem. Senator Elizabeth Warren and many other leading Democrats have called …
On September 3, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it is publishing a Merger Remedies Manual. Significantly, the new manual recognizes that “in some cases a private equity purchaser may be [a] preferred” …
On September 3, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice released its updated Merger Remedies Manual (the “Manual”). The Manual emphasizes the DOJ’s strong preference for “structural” remedies (i.e., divestitures) over “behavioral” or “conduct” remedies to address potential competitive harms that …
Competition v Privacy. Competition and consumer authorities are increasingly considering the implications of digital platforms’ ownership and use of consumer data and whether concerns about harm to privacy are indicative of a lack of competition.
For a long time the …
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant financial distress for many businesses and there have been a number of bankruptcy filings recently,[1] with more likely on the horizon. As a result, there is likely to be an increase in acquisitions …
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published “Guidance on the Functions of the CMA Under the Withdrawal Agreement” (Guidance), which sets out the regulator’s approach to merger and competition cases during the Brexit transition period that …
Last year marked the eleventh anniversary of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (the “AML”). In 2019, China announced the first-ever set of proposed amendments to the AML as well as the introduction of several new regulations aimed at more transparency …
Despite ebbs and flows of global economic uncertainty, M&A activity remained robust in 2019. Total deal volume reached $4 trillion globally, a slight decrease from the $4.1 trillion volume in 2018, but higher than the $3.5 trillion in 2017. The …
In a year of robust M&A activity, the U.S. antitrust agencies investigated and challenged transactions in many sectors of the economy. The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice initiated court challenges to block four proposed transactions and …
One of today’s most pressing antitrust questions is how antitrust should address the conduct of dominant technology companies, such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Once heralded as the champions of innovation and the modern economy, these companies are now the …
A no-deal Brexit would have significant and immediate effects on UK competition law enforcement:
On September 16, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released the agencies’ 41st Annual Hart-Scott-Rodino Report, which summarizes FTC and DOJ actions conducted under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements …
Antitrust treatment of no-poach agreements continues to evolve as private cases progress, state attorneys general ramp up enforcement efforts and federal regulators further contemplate the legality of no-poach agreements.
Over the past two years, private plaintiffs have filed class action …
In an effort to incentivize investment in robust antitrust compliance programs, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced on July 11, 2019 that companies may now receive credit at charging and sentencing for effective antitrust compliance …