NCAA vs. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma: A Win for Antitrust Law and College Football Fans
On May 22nd, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed a joint Statement of Interest in a case against several prominent asset managers brought last year by the Texas Attorney General. In...more
Illinois Attorney General (AG) Kwame Raoul and Minnesota AG Keith Ellison have joined the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a lawsuit to block the acquisition of Surmodics Inc. by GTCR BC Holdings LLC, two major manufacturers...more
On December 13, 2024, Judge Robert E. Payne of the Eastern District of Virginia, in a long-running private action that had previously found a consummated merger to be unlawful, overruled defendant’s objections to the required...more
Eleven attorneys general sue asset managers, alleging ESG investment standards raise coal prices and violate antitrust laws - The ideological battle over the role of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investment...more
New U.S. merger control filing forms to take effect in February 2025 - Following publication in the Federal Register, the new Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) premerger notification forms will become effective on February 10, 2025....more
In the latest effort to prevent vertical consolidation in the healthcare industry, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) – along with the states of Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and New York – filed a lawsuit on Nov. 12...more
The Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York AGs and the U.S. DOJ have sued to block the acquisition of Amedisys, Inc. by UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (“UnitedHealth”), alleging that it would violate Section 7 of the...more
The Supreme Court on June 27 issued its opinion in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy in which it held that when the SEC seeks civil penalties against a defendant for securities fraud, the Seventh Amendment...more
Private equity is squarely in the cross hairs of regulators; the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced the launch of a...more
In prior posts, we discussed the draft, updated merger guidelines that had been issued by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice (sometimes referred to as the “Agencies”) in July of last year. At that...more
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued final merger guidelines which significantly overhaul how the agencies determine whether potential transactions violate...more
In my earlier post in the Antitrust Advocate Blog, I noted recent setbacks that the Federal Trade Commission has experienced with respect to its regulatory authority. I then asked whether the FTC would suffer another...more
On September 21, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a groundbreaking complaint in federal court against PE fund Welsh Carson and its portfolio company, U.S. Anesthesia Partners (USAP), making good on its promise...more
Since the announcement of a proposed merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, Inc. (“Activision”) in February 2022, enforcement agencies worldwide have adopted a spectrum of positions in response. The EU Commission...more
On July 13, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit declined to block the $315 million purchase of Imperial Sugar Company (“Imperial”) by United States Sugar Corporation (“U.S. Sugar”), rejecting the Department...more
Consistent with the Biden administration’s whole-of-government approach to address perceived consolidation in a variety of industries, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on July 19, 2023, jointly announced the release of proposed Merger Guidelines that would expand significantly the number and types of transactions...more
On Monday, the FTC lost its bid to preliminarily enjoin Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, the maker of the popular video game, “Call of Duty.” Based on a vertical foreclosure theory, this case marks the fourth loss for...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) on June 27 issued a proposed rule pursuant to which it would amend its Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (“HSR”) form and instructions and in so doing make major “top-to-bottom” changes for the first...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced Monday that it had reversed its in-house Administrative Law Judge’s (“ALJ”) Initial Decision dismissing a complaint brought by FTC staff against Illumina, Inc.’s acquisition of...more
Aggressive merger enforcement continued through the end of 2022, with the agencies having mixed results in the courts. With several high-profile investigations still pending, the expectation is for aggressive enforcement to...more
On 10 November 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) issued a Policy Statement (the Policy Statement) outlining a significant expansion of its mandate to target “unfair methods of competition” under Section 5...more
On November 10, 2022 (following its January 2021 withdrawal of its 2015 policy statement regarding enforcement under Section 5 of the FTC Act), the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “the Commission”) issued a new statement...more
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division continues to push its aggressive civil and criminal agenda. While the Division has lost several high-profile criminal cases in the chicken processing industry and the labor market,...more
On November 2, 2021, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the planned $2.175 billion merger between powerhouse publishing companies...more