Sky Blog
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 …
In his classic 1962 paper, “The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing,” Nobel laureate Kenneth J. Arrow argued that firms can gain proficiency through the repetition of activity. Since then, learning by doing, or LBD, has been widely studied across …
Acorns Grow Inc., the financial technology and investing startup, said last week that it was abandoning its $2.2 billion merger with SPAC Pioneer Merger Corp., putting itself on the hook for a $17.5 million termination fee. Coming almost eight months …
In one of the first opinions addressing fiduciary duty claims in the context of a transaction involving a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”), the Delaware Court of Chancery determined that the SPAC shareholders’ right to redeem can be undermined by …
Like many sectors in the U.S. economy, the registered investment advisory (RIA) industry has seen a recent increase in consolidation through mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The RIA industry has also experienced widespread and well-documented misconduct among employees. For example, Egan, …
Private equity (PE) firms have in recent years been spending more money on purchasing more hospitals than ever before, with such deals accounting for a sizeable chunk of the roughly $340 billion that PE firms have put into the U.S. …
Thank you [commissioners and staff] for the grace and patience you’ve displayed the last few months as my team and I have gotten up to speed on the agency’s work and processes. Navigating a leadership transition during a pandemic has …
At its public meeting on September 15, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rescinded its Vertical Merger Guidelines. These guidelines were issued jointly by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FTC in June 2020, and served to “outline the principal …
In a recent blog post, the Acting Director of the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition announced the reversal of the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) decades-long position regarding the treatment of debt repayment when determining whether a premerger notification …
Companies that engage in M&A regularly employ a variety of financial, legal, and other advisers to enhance the chances of success for a deal. Though research has extensively examined the impact of financial advisers, and particularly investment bankers, on a …
Over the past two decades, delisting from an exchange has become a popular choice for many public companies. Several studies attribute this trend to a number of factors, including the increased concentration of U.S. markets, which made many small and …
On July 9, President Biden issued an Executive Order that announced a policy of increased antitrust enforcement across many industries. The DOJ Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission quickly followed with an announcement that they would jointly launch a
Antitrust enforcement is garnering headlines everywhere—from Lina Khan taking the helm at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the recent dismissal of the FTC’s and state attorneys’ general complaints against Facebook. While these headlines reflect a healthy debate about the …
Antitrust is in the news to an extent that it has not been for a generation. Senator Klobuchar (CALERA), senators Lee and Grassley (TEAMS Act), and, in a series of bi-partisan bills, various members of the House of Representatives all …
The New York state Senate has passed the “Twenty-First Century Antitrust Act” (S. 933) to amend its state antitrust law, radically changing the risks of doing business in New York. It ostensibly aims at so-called “Big Tech,” but applies to …
Mergers and acquisitions are considered an integral part of a well-functioning governance system, an effective device for transferring corporate control to more capable owners and executives who can manage firm assets more efficiently and create economic value for shareholders of …
On April 30, 2021, then Vice Chancellor (now Chancellor) Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a post-trial decision in Snow Phipps Group, LLC v. KCAKE Acquisition, Inc.[1] ordering specific performance of a private equity purchaser’s obligation …
Acquisitions are at the core of corporate strategy, enabling companies to expand and reposition themselves in the market. In 2019 alone, they accounted for nearly $3.7 trillion of economic activity. Yet acquirers famously struggle to realize value from these transactions. …
Previous takeover studies document a puzzlingly skewed division of gains between target and acquirer firms. The targets gain a hefty bid premium, while acquirers’ returns are insignificant or slightly negative around bid announcement dates. Thus, the question arises, Why do …
The new wave of financial economics empirical scholarship has revitalized what had been theoretical discussions about the effects of common ownership in both economics and law. Common ownership within the same industry by mutual funds may create incentives for those …