Key Points
- Strong antitrust enforcement is expected to continue, but without the use of the novel and untested legal theories that defined the Biden administration approach.
- Regulators are likely to continue to focus...more
Boards face a multitude of challenges, and opportunities, with the change in administrations. As we describe in the latest issue of The Informed Board, the new administration is forcing companies to reexamine their approaches...more
2/20/2025
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Executive Orders ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Multinationals ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Supply Chain ,
Trump Administration
On January 16, 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (together, the Agencies) released the Antitrust Guidelines for Business Activities Affecting Workers (Guidelines),...more
1/30/2025
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Policies ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Wage and Hour
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
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
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
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
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
As anticipated, on June 15, 2021, the U.S. Senate confirmed Lina Khan’s appointment to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Unexpectedly, within hours of her confirmation, President Joe Biden named her FTC chair. Ms. Khan...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
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
In February, the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law and the International Bar Association’s Antitrust Committee hosted the 13th International Cartel Workshop in San Francisco. Over the course of three days,...more
3/10/2020
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Cartels ,
Criminal Antitrust Litigation ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Leniency Guidelines ,
No-Poaching ,
Penalties ,
UK Brexit
Antitrust treatment of no-poach agreements continues to evolve as private cases progress, state attorneys general ramp up enforcement efforts and federal regulators further contemplate the legality of no-poach agreements....more
On April 12, the Federal Trade Commission held a hearing to debate the extent to which the FTC should use retrospective reviews to strengthen merger enforcement. This was the latest in the series of hearings on Competition...more
4/26/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Administrative Hearings ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Commissioners ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Political Parties
In early February 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its intent to file statements of interest in multiple ongoing private lawsuits to clarify how “no-poach” agreements should be evaluated under the federal...more
3/19/2019
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Franchises ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Joint Venture ,
No-Poaching ,
Railways ,
Regulatory Oversight
On June 25, 2018, in Ohio v. American Express Co., the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and held that American Express’ “anti-steering rules”...more
6/27/2018
/ American Express ,
Anti-Steering Rules ,
Anticompetitive Agreements ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Burden of Proof ,
Credit Card Surcharges ,
Merchant Fees ,
Merchants ,
Ohio v American Express ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
SCOTUS