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Showing archive for:  “Mergers & Merger Enforcement”

Review of Industrial Organization Special Merger Guidelines Issue

The August 2011 issue of Review of Industrial Organization is a special issue on the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines edited by Roger Blair. The issue is available here, and includes articles from: Herbert Hovenkamp Robert Willig Wayne-Roy Gale, Robert C. Marshall, Leslie M. Marx and Jean-Francois Richard Roger D. Blair and Jessica S. Haynes John ... Review of Industrial Organization Special Merger Guidelines Issue

Bainbridge’s e-book experiment

Steve Bainbridge is offering his new book, Directors as Auctioneers: A Concise Guide to Revlon-Land, as a Kindle eBook. Here’s his discussion of the book and of his decision to go the e-book route.  I’ve bought it already and presumably will have it when I turn my Kindle on. Steve’s reasoning is plausible:  he gets ... Bainbridge’s e-book experiment

FCC Competition Report is one green light for AT&T-T-Mobile deal

BY LARRY DOWNES AND GEOFFREY A. MANNE The FCC published in June its annual report on the state of competition in the mobile services marketplace. Under ordinary circumstances, this 300-plus page tome would sit quietly on the shelf, since, like last year’s report, it ‘‘makes no formal finding as to whether there is, or is ... FCC Competition Report is one green light for AT&T-T-Mobile deal

Office Superstores, Again?

FTC v. Staples is a seminal case in modern antitrust analysis of horizontal mergers.  Judge Posner has described it as the economic “coming of age” of merger analysis.   It is also a landmark decision in the development of unilateral effects theories.  Despite the fact that Judge Hogan did not explicitly rely upon the econometric evidence ... Office Superstores, Again?

Brantley and its Implications for the Proposed Consumer Choice Antitrust Standard

Thom‘s excellent post highlights the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Brantley and describes its implications both in terms of rejecting Professor Elhauge’s claim that metering ties and mere surplus extraction amount to competitive harm for the purposes of antitrust and also for the future of the quasi-per se rule of tying.   Thom, in my view ... Brantley and its Implications for the Proposed Consumer Choice Antitrust Standard

A New Chief Economist at the FCC

Its a Bruin.  Marius Schwartz will replace Jonathan Baker as the new Chief Economist at the FCC.  From the press release: Schwartz’s teaching and research specialties are in industrial organization, competition and regulation. Before joining Georgetown University, Schwartz served as Economics Director of Enforcement at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and ... A New Chief Economist at the FCC

Sprint’s (Ironic?) Campaign for Competition

Sprint, perhaps the most vigorous opponent of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger, has been extolling the values of competition lately.  Last Thursday and again today, the company ran full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal featuring the following text (which was apparently penned by Helen Steiner Rice): Competition is everything. Competition is the steady hand at our back, pushing ... Sprint’s (Ironic?) Campaign for Competition

House Hearing on the AT&T / T-Mobile Merger

As I mentioned previously, I testified at Thursday’s hearing on the AT&T / T-Mobile merger.  My written testimony is available here.  Links to the testimony from other witnesses are available at the link above.  I’ll post transcripts when they become available; same with the video link should one become available (I’m not aware of one ... House Hearing on the AT&T / T-Mobile Merger

The uncorporate solution to corporate cash hoarding

Jason Zweig wrote Saturday in the WSJ about how companies are hoarding their cash. Microsoft, Cisco, Google, Apple and J & J “added $15 billion in cash and marketable securities to their balance sheets. Microsoft alone packed away roughly $9 billion, or $100 million a day. All told, the companies in the Standard & Poor’s ... The uncorporate solution to corporate cash hoarding

Nevada and the market for corporate law

I’m just catching up with this Board Member article about Delaware’s new competitor, Nevada. It notes that Nevada’s share of the out-of-state incorporation market rose from 4.6% in 2000 to 6% in 2007.  Part of this may be due to lower fees than Delaware. But that can’t be the full explanation because all states are ... Nevada and the market for corporate law

House Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on the AT&T / T-Mobile Merger

Tomorrow morning.  I’ll post my written testimony here tomorrow. Hearing on: “How Will the Proposed Merger Between AT&T and T-Mobile Affect Wireless Telecommunications Competition?” Thursday 5/26/2011 – 10:30 a.m. 2141 Rayburn House Office Building Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet Witness List Mr. Randall Stephenson Chairman, Chief Executive Office and President AT&T, Inc. ... House Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on the AT&T / T-Mobile Merger

Senate Judiciary Hearing on AT&T / T-Mobile Merger

The hearing is Wednesday morning.  The Witness List suggests that the hearing will primarily serve as an opportunity for the merging parties, rivals, other interested parties, and lets not forget the Senators, to restate their positions “for the record.”  And while I get where the Committee is going with the “Humpty Dumpty” title, “the T-1000 ... Senate Judiciary Hearing on AT&T / T-Mobile Merger