The government’s new antitrust leaders have signaled a less skeptical stance on mergers but a continued focus on enforcement, especially in Big Tech and the health care and agriculture sectors....more
5/1/2025
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Biden Administration ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
Trump Administration
President Donald Trump’s early executive orders have not specifically called out antitrust enforcement, but several impact antitrust agencies and could influence antitrust policy and enforcement over the next four...more
2/11/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Requirements ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Freeze ,
Technology Sector ,
Trump Administration
Key Points -
- We expect the second Trump administration to take a relatively aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement, as regulators did during President-elect Trump’s first term, because there is bipartisan support...more
On October 24, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) succeeded in blocking the proposed merger of Tapestry and Capri Holdings, which would combine popular fashion brands such as Coach, Kate Spade and Michael...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
Managing Deal Risks in a Challenging Regulatory Environment: Strategies and Deal Terms With antitrust and other regulators scrutinizing mergers more closely, it is crucial for companies to negotiate terms to mitigate and...more
3/28/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Board of Directors ,
Capital Markets ,
China ,
Corporate Entities ,
Corporate Governance ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Global Market ,
Investment Management ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Shareholders
The already complex business calculus that goes into a merger has become even more complicated in the past several years because of stepped-up government scrutiny. Major transactions have been blocked or abandoned in the face...more
3/26/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Domestic Dealmaking ,
EU ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Investment ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
UK
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
Skadden is proud to present our newest podcast, Fierce Competition. Hosted by our global antitrust/competition team, the podcast explores antitrust policy and enforcement around the world, including the latest developments...more
In July, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a draft of proposed new merger guidelines, 18 months after FTC Chair Lina Khan and Assistant Attorney General...more
9/7/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Draft Guidance ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Threshold Requirements
Short sellers make their money by publishing information that attacks a company in order to drive down its share price. How can a company prepare? And what should it not do in the face of a short attack? We offer some tips in...more
9/7/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Delisting ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Foreign Subsidies ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Internal Investigations ,
Mergers ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation ,
Sellers ,
Share Buybacks ,
Shareholders ,
Short Selling ,
UK
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
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
Takeaways - With increasingly aggressive antitrust and foreign investment reviews, directors need to be fully informed about the risks of deals from the beginning of negotiations. Boards should insist that management and its...more
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
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
To stay ahead of the feds, companies need to monitor their own data for possible compliance problems. Congress may soon give companies better visibility into their shareholder bases, including derivatives positions.
In this...more
10/8/2021
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Biden Administration ,
Board of Directors ,
Books & Records ,
Competition ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Mergers ,
Section 220 Request ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
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
President Biden has signaled a pro-enforcement approach to antitrust policy by naming Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu as a White House adviser and nominating Lina Khan, who also teaches at Columbia Law, to be...more
On September 3, 2020, the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division (the DOJ) issued its new Merger Remedies Manual (the Manual), which provides the framework the DOJ will utilize going forward to implement relief in mergers...more
On August 31, 2020, the Delaware Chancery Court issued an opinion in litigation between Anthem and Cigna related to the contract in their terminated merger. In its sprawling 306-page opinion, the court detailed a “corporate...more
9/19/2020
/ Anthem Insurance ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Breach of Contract ,
CIGNA ,
Condition Precedent ,
Contract Termination ,
Contract Terms ,
Credibility ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Merger Agreements ,
Mergers ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Popular ,
Reasonable Efforts Clauses ,
Termination Rights
Recent enforcement actions by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) demonstrate the agencies’ continued close scrutiny of merging parties’ compliance with divestiture orders....more
8/24/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Fines ,
Deadlines ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Divestiture ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Settlement Agreements
The global spread of the novel coronavirus has disrupted everyday life all over the world and imposed significant difficulties on the business community. Antitrust merger reviews — and the authorities who conduct those...more
4/3/2020
/ Asia ,
China ,
Competition Authorities ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Requirements ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
Notice Requirements ,
Office Closures ,
Relief Measures ,
Saudi Arabia ,
South America ,
State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The question is no longer whether the volatility created by the COVID-19 pandemic will deepen the difficulties businesses and other institutions face in the coming months, but by how much and in what ways. In the past few...more
3/21/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Audits ,
Board of Directors ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Court Closures ,
Debt-Equity ,
Energy Projects ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
IRS ,
Liquidity ,
Mergers ,
Power Infrastructure ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholder Activism ,
Shareholder Meetings ,
Stock Repurchases