On July 10, 2023, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) request to grant a preliminary injunction of Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of...more
On April 26, 2023, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard over concerns the deal “would alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming...more
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
Wilson Sonsini is pleased to present the latest edition of The Life Sciences Report. This issue features an article on interlocking boards in the life sciences sector and the antitrust risk they pose to firms and investors;...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
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
The FTC's case against Facebook will be allowed to proceed now that the district court has held its Amended Complaint plausibly alleged violations of Section 2 of the Sherman Act related to Facebook's acquisition of Instagram...more
1/19/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Big Tech ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Instagram ,
Monopolization ,
Sherman Act ,
Social Media ,
WhatsApp
More than halfway through year one of the Biden administration, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are flexing their muscles and confirming the early consensus view that antitrust risk would be...more
On May 3, 2021, Anthem, Inc. secured its win over Cigna Corp.'s pursuit of a $1.85 billion breakup fee following the collapse of their proposed $54 billion merger. In a brief order, Justice Karen L. Valihura, writing for the...more
5/6/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Anthem Insurance ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
CIGNA ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers
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
The COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented challenges for merging parties and enforcement agencies.1 In the U.S., it has caused both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to alter their...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued revised Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act jurisdictional thresholds for the upcoming year, the announcement of which was delayed due to the recent federal government shutdown. The FTC...more
2/21/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
On October 22, 2016, AT&T announced its $108 billion proposed acquisition of Time Warner. After a year-plus investigation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit to enjoin the merger, alleging that the transaction would...more
6/20/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
AT&T ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Media ,
Multichannel Video Programming ,
Time Warner
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued guidance explaining how parties to a merger or acquisition can reduce antitrust risk when exchanging competitively sensitive information prior to closing. The exchange of...more
On September 26, 2017, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware challenging Parker-Hannifin Corporation's (Parker's) consummated acquisition of CLARCOR, Inc....more