DOJ Follows Familiar Playbook in Merger Challenge Focused on “Hot” Documents -
Following a familiar playbook and relying heavily on market share presumptions and “hot” documents describing close competition, the U.S....more
In parallel, same-day rulings, a federal and state court blocked The Kroger Company’s $24.6 billion proposed acquisition of the Albertsons Companies, Inc., relying on traditional antitrust analysis and evidence of...more
12/20/2024
/ Albertsons ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Grocery Stores ,
Kroger ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Popular
On December 12, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, LLC (Southern) in the Central District of California for alleged price discrimination, initiating the first federal government...more
On October 24, 2024, to the surprise of many legal observers and fashion industry executives, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) secured a preliminary injunction blocking a proposed $8.5 billion deal between Tapestry and...more
The Biden administration’s antitrust scrutiny of the life sciences industry continued this week as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an administrative complaint against the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers...more
Wilson Sonsini’s inaugural Biotech Summit will address topics of critical importance to Biotech and Biopharmaceutical companies, including early and late-stage venture financing, partnering strategies, current and future AI...more
8/14/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Biopharmaceutical ,
Biotechnology ,
Business Strategies ,
Capital Markets ,
CEOs ,
Collaboration ,
Early Stage Companies ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Events ,
Exit Strategies ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Investors ,
Life Sciences ,
Mergers ,
Partnerships ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Startups ,
Therapeutic Services ,
Venture Capital
Competition authorities in the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom released a joint statement on competition in generative AI and other AI products, continuing the drumbeat that policymakers need to...more
On February 26, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alongside Attorneys General from eight states and the District of Columbia, initiated legal action to block Kroger’s $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons. The...more
As the September 30, 2023, deadline for U.S. Congress to enact appropriations to fund the federal government approaches, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) have issued contingency plans...more
On February 2, 2023, Doha Mekki, Principal Deputy Attorney General (DAAG) for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, announced the agency’s withdrawal of three enforcement policy statements related to...more
2/7/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Joint Venture ,
Mergers ,
Personal Information ,
Sherman Act
On January 23, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released the revised Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act jurisdictional thresholds for 2023. The FTC is required by law to revise the HSR Act monetary jurisdictional thresholds...more
2/1/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-1 to propose the Noncompete Clause Rule (the rule), which would ban essentially all noncompete clauses that employers impose on their employees and other workers....more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an administrative complaint to block Microsoft Corporation’s (Microsoft’s) nearly $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Activision), the largest video game acquisition...more
12/13/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Administrative Complaints ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Gaming ,
Microsoft ,
Online Gaming
In what might be a further expansion of antitrust enforcement of interlocking directorates, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a policy statement announcing that it now interprets Section 5 of the FTC Act to grant it...more
11/15/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Section 5 ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act ,
Unfair Competition ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Last month, we reported that the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had threatened multiple public companies, private equity investors, and individuals with lawsuits for violating the ban on interlocking directorates under...more
The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) in-house administrative law judge (ALJ) has handed the FTC a loss in its suit to reverse the completed acquisition of GRAIL, Inc. by Illumina, Inc. This is the FTC's second high-profile...more
In what appears to be a significant expansion of its antitrust enforcement efforts, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued letters to multiple public companies, investors, and individuals this week, stating it may bring...more
9/23/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Safe Harbors ,
The Clayton Act
Wilson Sonsini provides extensive and cutting-edge legal services for innovators, technology pioneers, and disruptors. As part of our focus on emerging technologies, our attorneys are publishing a series on applying and...more
On July 19, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced they were joining forces to “bolster the FTC's efforts to protect workers by promoting competitive U.S. labor...more
On July 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion for an emergency preliminary injunction to abrogate Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation's (Booz Allen's) merger agreement with EverWatch Corp....more
On June 29, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit seeking to block Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation's (Booz Allen's) proposed acquisition of EverWatch Corp. (EverWatch). The DOJ's suit is unique in...more
7/6/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Biden Administration ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
National Security Agency (NSA) ,
Sherman Act
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a consent agreement requiring divestitures as a condition of Buckeye Partners, L.P.'s (Buckeye's) $435 million acquisition of 26 petroleum terminals from Magellan Midstream...more
In recent years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched significant investigations into mergers between distributors, with the merging parties resolving the FTC’s concerns through consent, by abandoning the...more
Humana recently lost its effort to limit third-party discovery requests served by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its ongoing Walgreens/Rite Aid investigation. Typically, negotiations over the scope of third-party...more
6/22/2017
/ Antitrust Investigations ,
CID ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Discovery ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Humana ,
Market Participants ,
Mergers ,
Rite Aid ,
Subpoenas ,
Third-Party ,
Walgreens