Showing archive for: “Clayton Act”
Antitrust at the Agencies Roundup: Rounding up the Roundups
It’s Not All About Price, Except When We Say So I don’t know if this is the end of an era, the end of an error, a bit of both, or something far more complicated than that, but let’s start with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Melissa Holyoak’s dissent in In the Matter of Southern ... Antitrust at the Agencies Roundup: Rounding up the Roundups
Why Trump May Consolidate Federal Antitrust Enforcement
President-elect Donald Trump’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” has been tasked with providing advice and guidance on reducing government waste and restructuring federal agencies. One act of restructuring that may warrant consideration would involve consolidating all federal antitrust enforcement within the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ). There are strong arguments that this would reduce waste. In addition, ... Why Trump May Consolidate Federal Antitrust Enforcement
Why It May Be Time to Consider a Merger Policy Reset in 2025
The Biden administration’s federal antitrust regulators—the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)—have been widely perceived as actively discouraging mergers and acquisitions. This reflects the rejection of a longstanding bipartisan understanding that government would only oppose proposed M&A transactions that are likely to harm competition. The Biden approach arguably threatens to harm the ... Why It May Be Time to Consider a Merger Policy Reset in 2025
FTC Sues ‘Big 3’ Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers
My last post highlighted a July 2024 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) interim staff report that was critical of pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs)—so-called “middlemen” firms that specialize in negotiating with drugmakers for rebates on the list prices of drugs. I explained that the interim report’s analysis is at odds with economic research that delineates the substantial economic benefits ... FTC Sues ‘Big 3’ Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers
Antitrust at the Agencies: The Meat of the Matter Edition
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued comments Sept. 11 in support of a proposed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule that “seeks to clarify the scope of what constitutes unfair practices under the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA), which assures fair competition and fair trade practices to protect farmers, ranchers, growers, and consumers.” In the ... Antitrust at the Agencies: The Meat of the Matter Edition
Vacatur’s All I Ever Wanted
Yep, more about noncompetes. I’ve been at this a bit. I’m aware. Just last week, and then again here, here, here, here, and here at Truth on the Market; here in a more formal journal article; and here with my International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) colleagues and scholars of law and economics. Maybe ... Vacatur’s All I Ever Wanted
The Waiting Game: Noncompetes, Google, Roll-Ups, and More
I’ll start with a bit of half-empty, half-full (and very partial) resolution in Federal Trade Commission (FTC) publicity. Losing by Winning or Just Losing or . . . ? A couple of weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal editorial board announced that: “Another Lina Khan Theory Loses in Court” And that was right, up to ... The Waiting Game: Noncompetes, Google, Roll-Ups, and More
Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends: More Regulatory Overreach by the FTC
Go big or go home, they say. It’s not really an either-or choice: one can go big, and then go home. Not infrequently, an attempt to go big is what gets one sent home. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) swung for the fences in April 23’s open meeting. On purely partisan lines, the commission voted ... Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends: More Regulatory Overreach by the FTC
Kroger/Albertsons: Is Labor Bargaining Power an Antitrust Harm?
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent complaint challenging the proposed merger of the supermarkets Kroger Co. and Albertsons Companies Inc. has important implications for antitrust enforcement in labor markets. Central to the FTC’s case is how it chooses to define the relevant markets, and particularly the commission’s focus on unionized grocery workers. The complaint alleges ... Kroger/Albertsons: Is Labor Bargaining Power an Antitrust Harm?
What Do We Do with Presumptions in Antitrust?
Winter was coming, as it does. We knew the agencies were going to issue new merger guidelines, and then they did. On Dec. 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) jointly issued merger guidelines, supplanting 2023’s draft guidelines, the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines, and the 2020 (partially withdrawn) Vertical Merger ... What Do We Do with Presumptions in Antitrust?
The Conundrum of Out-of-Market Effects in Merger Enforcement
Section 7 of the Clayton Act prohibits mergers that harm competition in “in any line” of commerce. And, indeed, the Supreme Court’s decisions in Philadelphia National Bank and Topco are often cited on behalf of the proposition that this means any single cognizable market, and that anticompetitive effects in one market cannot be offset by ... The Conundrum of Out-of-Market Effects in Merger Enforcement
FTC v. Illumina/Grail – A Rare FTC Merger Victory? (Actually, a Loss for Consumers)
Although it was overshadowed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Justice Department’s (DOJ) year-end release of the 2023 merger guidelines, one should also note the abrupt end of the FTC v. Illumina/Grail saga. The saga finished with the FTC’s Dec. 18 press release announcing that Illumina decided on Dec.17 to divest itself of ... FTC v. Illumina/Grail – A Rare FTC Merger Victory? (Actually, a Loss for Consumers)
