On August 20, 2024, in Ryan LLC v. Federal Trade Commission, a district court in the Northern District of Texas held “unlawful and set[] aside” the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Non-Compete Rule, 16 C.F.R. § 910.1–.6. That...more
8/26/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Competition ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Lack of Authority ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Set-Asides ,
Statutory Authority ,
Texas ,
Unconstitutional Condition
On July 3, 2024, in Ryan v. Federal Trade Commission, a district court in the Northern District of Texas preliminarily enjoined the implementation and enforcement against the plaintiff and plaintiffs-intervenors of a Federal...more
7/9/2024
/ Appeals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Texas
Explore the unique considerations for mergers and acquisitions in the AI sector, the return of IPOs, the implications of new Supreme Court decisions and other developments in this edition of Skadden’s quarterly Insights....more
6/27/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Banking Sector ,
Capital Markets ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Corporate Governance ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Executive Compensation ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Life Sciences ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders ,
Technology
When the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its long-awaited final rule banning virtually all noncompete clauses between workers and employers, it also published 500-plus pages of commentary....more
6/27/2024
/ Business Entities ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dissolution ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Compensation ,
Exemptions ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Franchisee ,
Franchises ,
Franchisors ,
FTC Act ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Selling a Business
After decades of dormancy, the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), a Depression-era antitrust statute prohibiting price discrimination, has recently become the subject of renewed interest from both private plaintiffs and government...more
On May 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) jointly announced a request for members of the public to provide information that the agencies can use “to identify...more
6/3/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Private Equity Firms ,
Request For Information
The FTC issued its final rule broadly banning noncompete clauses between employers and workers. In this episode of “Fierce Competition,” Skadden attorneys Tara Reinhart, Annie Villanueva Jeffers and Justine Haimi discuss the...more
Antitrust Enforcers Are Increasingly Focused on Labor Markets, and Not Just in the Merger Context With antitrust regulators focused on competition in labor markets, companies should revisit their noncompete agreements,...more
3/29/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Capital Markets ,
Competition ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Taxation
Labor markets have been a focus of antitrust regulators at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) since the Obama administration. Indications are that enforcers will be even more aggressive across...more
3/26/2024
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employees ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Investigations ,
Mergers ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Wage-Fixing
On February 26, 2024, after a 16-month investigation, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued The Kroger Company and Albertsons Companies, Inc. in the U.S. District Court of Oregon to try to block their $24.6 billion merger....more
3/12/2024
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Blocked Mergers ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Kroger ,
Merger Controls ,
Popular ,
State and Local Government ,
Supermarkets ,
Unions ,
Washington
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) released the final 2023 Merger Guidelines (the Guidelines). While the final version of the Guidelines reflects...more
12/22/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Draft Guidance ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Vertical Mergers
In the second installment of our “Fierce Competition” podcast, partners Ken Schwartz, Tara Reinhart and Aurora Luoma discuss issues that antitrust attorneys — on both the corporate and litigation side — encounter as antitrust...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a draft of proposed new merger guidelines today, 18 months after FTC Chair Lina Khan and Assistant Attorney General...more
In the latest setback in the Department Justice Antitrust Division’s (DOJ) attempts to prosecute “no-poach” agreements criminally, a federal judge acquitted from the bench all six defendant employees of aerospace engineering...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division — for the third time in the span of a year — recently failed to convince a jury that alleged agreements to fix or stabilize labor markets should be punished criminally. It...more
This edition of Skadden’s quarterly Insights looks at the rising number of de-SPACed companies seeking Chapter 11 protection, the growth of a market designed to assume legacy liabilities, an effort to establish...more
4/20/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Banking Sector ,
Capital Markets ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Governance ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Energy Tax Incentives ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Holding Companies ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Innovative Technology ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Liability ,
Mergers ,
Patents ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Tax Credits
US Regulators Pursue an Expansive View of Antitrust Laws -
For almost two years, industry participants have felt the effects of the Biden administration’s “big is bad” approach to antitrust — not only in technology sectors,...more
12/19/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Buyers ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Domestic Dealmaking ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Global Dealmaking ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Remedies ,
UK ,
Vertical Mergers
The pandemic’s impact may be subsiding, but businesses are encountering new challenges across the globe, including the potential for an economic retrenchment, rising interest rates, shifting regulatory and litigation...more
12/14/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Antitrust Division ,
Banking Sector ,
Big Tech ,
Board of Directors ,
Bonds ,
Borrowers ,
Capital Markets ,
Capital Raising ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Convertible Notes ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Creditors ,
Cross-Border ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Forum Selection ,
Investigations ,
IRS ,
Lenders ,
Mergers ,
Money Laundering ,
Partnerships ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Recessions ,
Repurchases ,
Russia ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholders ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Taxation ,
Technology ,
UK ,
Vertical Mergers
On November 10, 2022, the FTC issued a Policy Statement Regarding the Scope of Unfair Methods of Competition Under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act that revisited the Commission’s decades-long enforcement...more
In October, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced its first criminal attempted monopolization charges in more than 40 years. In the case, U.S. v. Zito, Nathan Nephi Zito, the owner of a Montana paving...more
12/1/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Monopolization ,
Section 2 ,
Sherman Act
This year, we expect to see new disclosure requirements; rule changes at the Securities and Exchange Commission that will affect directors; activists adopting new tactics; changes to shareholder voting processes; tax and...more
As the Biden Administration enters its second year, the White House and antitrust enforcers at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) continue to focus on the intersection between antitrust and...more
Takeaways -
Under the Biden administration’s “whole-of-government” approach to promoting competition, a range of agencies outside the DOJ and FTC have been asked to use their authority to reform markets.
Wide-ranging...more
On November 18, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 4-0 to adopt a new policy statement outlining the commission’s plans to expand its criminal referral program in an effort to prevent and deter corporate crime...more
12/3/2021
/ Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Criminal Antitrust Litigation ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
Policy Statement
In a September 22, 2021, memorandum to staff, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan formally laid out her “Vision and Priorities for the FTC,” reaffirming her calls for broad antitrust enforcement organized around...more