Showing archive for: “Mergers & Merger Enforcement”
DOJ clears Google-ITA
The press release is here. Notably, the settlement obligates Google to continue product development and to license ITA software on commercially-reasonable terms, seemingly for 5 years. Frankly, I can’t imagine Google wouldn’t have done this anyway, so the settlement is not likely much of a binding constraint. Also notable is what the settlement doesn’t seem to ... DOJ clears Google-ITA
Type I errors in action, Google edition
Does anyone really still believe that the threat of antitrust enforcement doesn’t lead to undesirable caution on the part of potential defendants? Whatever you may think of the merits of the Google/ITA merger (and obviously I suspect the merits cut in favor of the merger), there can be no doubt that restraining Google’s (and other ... Type I errors in action, Google edition
Market Definition and the Merger Guidelines, Again
Do the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines require market definition? Will the agencies define markets in cases they bring? Are they required to do so by the Guidelines? By the Clayton Act? Here is Commissioner Rosch in the FTC Annual Report (p.18): “A significant development in 2010 was the issuance of updated Horizontal Merger Guidelines by ... Market Definition and the Merger Guidelines, Again
Merger Retrospective
Several years ago, the DOJ cleared a merger between Whirlpool and Maytag. The primary defense was that post-merger prices could not rise because of intense competition from foreign competitors like LG and Samsung. Apparently the actual competition was more than Whirlpool wanted to bear. Guess What? Mr. Laissez-Faire Antitrust, meet Dr. Public Choice. The Wall ... Merger Retrospective
Smoothing Demand Kinks
One criticism of the unilateral effects analysis in the 2010 Merger Guidelines is that demand curves are kinked at the current price. A small increase in price will dramatically reduce the quantity demanded. One rationale for the kink is that people over-react to small price changes and dramatically reduce demand. As a result of this ... Smoothing Demand Kinks
No Facts, No Problem?
There has been, as is to be expected, plenty of casual analysis of the AT&T / T-Mobile merger to go around. As I mentioned, I think there are a number of interesting issues to be resolved in an investigation with access to the facts necessary to conduct the appropriate analysis. Annie Lowery’s piece in Slate ... No Facts, No Problem?
The AT&T and T-Mobile Merger
The big merger news is that AT&T is planning to acquire T-Mobile. From the AT&T press release: AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Deutsche Telekom AG (FWB: DTE) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which AT&T will acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in a cash-and-stock transaction currently valued at approximately ... The AT&T and T-Mobile Merger
The Dodd-Frank debacle, takeover edition
The so-called “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act” was supposed to fix the problems that led to the financial bust. Of course, that would require some understanding of what, exactly, those problems were, which Congress lacked. The Act did little to fix the credit raters or the derivatives market that surely had something ... The Dodd-Frank debacle, takeover edition
The Airgas decision
So Chancellor Chandler, in deciding Airgas, preserved the board’s power to decide when to sell the company. If a company’s shareholders don’t like it, they need to replace the board. If shareholders generally don’t like it they need to change the Delaware statute. In upholding the board’s power, and confirming what most astute observers knew ... The Airgas decision
Big Antitrust Casebook News
OK. Big news for me, anyway. I’m very pleased to announce that I will be joining Andy Gavil, (also my former boss) William Kovacic, and Jonathan Baker as a co-author of the forthcoming Third Edition of Antitrust Law in Perspective: Cases, Concepts and Problems in Competition Policy. The new edition should be available for Spring ... Big Antitrust Casebook News
Baker on the FCC’s Analysis of the Comcast-NBCU Merger
Jon Baker (FCC, American University) has posted an article summarizing the FCC’s analysis of the Comcast-NBCU merger. Here is the abstract. The FCC’s analysis of the Comcast-NBCU transaction fills a gap in the contemporary treatment of vertical mergers by providing a roadmap for courts and litigants addressing the possibility of anticompetitive exclusion. The FCC identified ... Baker on the FCC’s Analysis of the Comcast-NBCU Merger
The costs and benefits of hedge fund disclosure
The WSJ reports on proposed rules forcing hedge funds to disclose confidential proprietary information: Under current rules, many managers are required each quarter to publicly disclose their long equity positions in public securities. The proposed rules would require a much greater level of disclosure to regulators about trading positions, counterparties, liquidity, leverage and performance. * ... The costs and benefits of hedge fund disclosure
