Showing archive for: “UK”
Act First, Learn Later: AI Antitrust and the Error Costs of Regulation at Machine Speed
Competition enforcers appear to have discovered their own version of artificial intelligence: act first, learn later. In the span of a week, agencies across four continents moved to reshape how AI products are built, distributed, and integrated—mostly before anyone has shown, in a final appealable decision, that the challenged conduct harms competition. Last week, a ... Act First, Learn Later: AI Antitrust and the Error Costs of Regulation at Machine Speed
Paramount’s Mission: Impossible Antitrust Case
Hollywood loves a sequel, and the antitrust fight over Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is becoming one. First came the familiar streaming-monopoly scare. Now comes the more personal version: the writers, drivers, and actors who make the movies fear that a combined studio will need far fewer of them—and ... Paramount’s Mission: Impossible Antitrust Case
A Fistful of Discretion: The UK’s DMCC After Two Years
When Sergio Leone shot “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” in 1966, he refused to hand the audience a clean moral. The “Good” wasn’t really good. The “Bad” looked almost restrained next to the Civil War’s industrial-scale carnage. And the “Ugly” drew your sympathy—even as you questioned why. Two years into the Competition and ... A Fistful of Discretion: The UK’s DMCC After Two Years
Acquihires and Antitrust: When Buying the Team Isn’t Buying the Company
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has trained its sights on one of Silicon Valley’s most familiar deal structures: the “acquihire.” In a Bloomberg podcast interview, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson said the agency plans to scrutinize how acquihires are structured—looking for features that could bring them within merger law and trigger Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR) reporting thresholds. ... Acquihires and Antitrust: When Buying the Team Isn’t Buying the Company
Acquihires and Other Antitrust Ghost Stories
Merger-control debates tend to repeat themselves. As new transaction forms emerge, regulators often move quickly to respond before harm becomes irreversible. Over the past decade, this pattern played out in debates over “killer acquisitions,” and earlier, minority shareholdings. Today, a similar dynamic surrounds so-called “acquihires.” Acquihires are transactions aimed primarily at acquiring a firm’s workforce, ... Acquihires and Other Antitrust Ghost Stories
Lessons from the UK for Brazil’s Digital Market Strategy
Brazil is broadly expected to move forward in the very near future with plans to adopt ex-ante competition regulations to govern digital platforms. Indeed, in the wake of a public consultation launched by the Ministry of Finance in early 2024, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the administration have spent much of the past ... Lessons from the UK for Brazil’s Digital Market Strategy
New US Trade Agreements Could Grow the Economy
The Trump administration earlier this month announced a new trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom. This initial pact should be a harbinger of additional “win-win” American trade deals with the UK and other countries. Such agreements, besides reducing tariffs, could emphasize the mutual elimination of anticompetitive market distortions (ACMDs). Eliminating ACMDs ... New US Trade Agreements Could Grow the Economy
The View from Brazil: A TOTM Q&A with Gustavo Augusto Freitas de Lima
Gustavo, could you please tell us a bit about yourself and your professional background? I’m a law practitioner with a master’s degree in law and public policy, specializing in constitutional and administrative law. I served as a federal attorney and litigator before the Brazilian Supreme Court and was appointed by the attorney general as the ... The View from Brazil: A TOTM Q&A with Gustavo Augusto Freitas de Lima
Competition Confusion in the UK
UK Member of Parliament (former Conservative Party Cabinet Minister) Kit Malthouse published an essay in CapX earlier this month titled “We need a competition revolution.” I, of course, completely agree that competition is vitally important to any economy, and the UK has been struggling with productivity and growth challenges that may be linked to competition ... Competition Confusion in the UK
US-UK Trade Agreement Has Big Pro-Growth Potential
A prospective trade deal between the United States and the United Kingdom could, if handled correctly, be a catalyst to spur global economic growth through enhanced trade and regulatory reform. This would require recognition by other major trading nations of the advantages of removing regulatory obstacles to trade liberalization. Background A Feb. 27 White House ... US-UK Trade Agreement Has Big Pro-Growth Potential
Five Key Lessons from Abroad for the UK CMA’s Google Search Probe
In the first investigation conducted under the new ex-ante regulatory framework established by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC), the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is seeking to ascertain whether Google has “strategic market status” (SMS) in the search and search-advertising-services markets. The CMA is also tasked with weighing whether ex-ante ... Five Key Lessons from Abroad for the UK CMA’s Google Search Probe
U.S. Antitrust Enforcers Should Reject AI Interventionism
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in tandem with their fellow competition-law enforcers from Europe (the European Commission) and the United Kingdom (the Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA), issued a joint statement July 23 titled “Joint Statement on Competition in Generative AI Foundation Models and AI Products.” This joint statement ... U.S. Antitrust Enforcers Should Reject AI Interventionism
