Showing archive for: “Mergers & Merger Enforcement”
The Proposed Merger Guidelines: How Much of a Shift?
The proposed Horizontal Merger Guidelines (HMGs) have been treated by some as a major shift in enforcement approach away from a tight structure that begins with market definition to a more flexible and open-ended competitive effects approach. Some of the specific concerns that have been raised are that the proposed HMGs dramatically change enforcement policy ... The Proposed Merger Guidelines: How Much of a Shift?
Market Definition and Margins in the New Guidelines
I’m still working through the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines, and like Dan, I find myself puzzling over some of the revisions, and in favor of others. I wanted to start with some first impressions. The big movement here, is that the new HMGs repudiate the market definition requirement in the new Section 4 and in ... Market Definition and Margins in the New Guidelines
Whoa There, Big Fellows!
The DoJ/FTC revised merger guidelines, released as a draft for public comment yesterday, have me scratching my head. I need to spend more time with them before I come to any strong views, but the obvious issue-spotter is the elimination of market definition as a necessary step in the analysis. So we all know that ... Whoa There, Big Fellows!
Proposed Merger Guidelines Released
The FTC/ DOJ have released the new proposed horizontal merger guidelines. The public comment period with the Commission ends May 20th. There is a lot to evaluate here. On a quick read through, here are a few of my noted as either changes or interesting as I went through: “Market definition is not an end ... Proposed Merger Guidelines Released
DOJ Stumbling Out Of The Gate On Antitrust In Ag
Wednesday, April 7, J.P. Stadtmueller, U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, gave the green light for DOJ’s antitrust case against Dean Foods to move forward. Dean had filed a motion to dismiss based on its assertion that the DOJ had failed to provide sufficient evidence to support the DOJ’s antitrust claim ... DOJ Stumbling Out Of The Gate On Antitrust In Ag
Assessing the claims that the Google-AdMob merger will "leverage Google's dominance" and also kill kittens
News items continue to pile up suggesting that the FTC is likely to challenge Google’s acquisition of mobile application and website advertising provider, AdMob. See this recent article from the Wall Street Journal. News reports today contain this quote from an anonymous source: “The staff (at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission) believes there is a ... Assessing the claims that the Google-AdMob merger will "leverage Google's dominance" and also kill kittens
Competition in agriculture redux (cross-posted)
Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog is hosting a symposium on Competition in Agriculture. Mike’s post from yesterday is available here. So far in the symposium there are also posts by Ron Cass (BU Law), Jeff Harrison (Florida Law), Peter Carstensen (Wisconsin Law), and Kyle Stiegert (Wisconsin Applied Econ). Additional posts should be forthcoming from ... Competition in agriculture redux (cross-posted)
Correcting the Record: AAG Varney and the Chicago School's Premature "Retirement"
Geoff recently highlighted AAG Christine Varney’s closing remarks at the Horizontal Merger Guidelines workshop and was fairly critical. Thom intervened to suggest that we at TOTM, while fairly critical of the agencies from time to time, also give credit where it is due — highlighting AAG Varney’s RPM article. OK, that’s enough credit for now. ... Correcting the Record: AAG Varney and the Chicago School's Premature "Retirement"
Meese & Richman on Ticketmaster/ Live Nation
Alan Meese (William and Mary) and Barak Richman (Duke), have an op-ed over at the Huffington Post on the Ticketmaster Live nation merger and settlement. They frame the DOJ decision to approve the merger as a victory of principle over politics and economic populism. Here is an excerpt: Many hoped that the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger ... Meese & Richman on Ticketmaster/ Live Nation
Varney on the Merger Guidelines
Yesterday the final Horizontal Merger Guidelines Review workshop was held and, among other antitrust luminaries, our own Josh Wright participated. We look forward to a report from the front lines. Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Varney’s comments are available on the interwebs. Overall her remarks seem uncontroversial, especially following on the heels of the agency’s (surprising?) ... Varney on the Merger Guidelines
Merger Guidelines Symposium Conclusion
Thanks to all of our participants in the Merger Guidelines Symposium. We hope many of you, as well as our readers, will look back over the collected posts and engage in an ongoing dialogue in the comments over the many interesting ideas raised here. You will find all of the posts from the symposium by ... Merger Guidelines Symposium Conclusion
Revisions to the Merger Guidelines: Above All, Do No Harm
My sense is that there is no need to revise the DOJ/FTC Horizontal Merger Guidelines, with one exception. As Greg Werden points out, “a thorough revision would take up to three years and occupy some of the agencies’ best people for a total of more than two thousand hours.” The current guidelines lay out the ... Revisions to the Merger Guidelines: Above All, Do No Harm
