Author: Steven Cernak Recently, FTC Commissioner Bedoya made one of his first speeches and called for a “return to fairness” when enforcing the antitrust laws. In particular, he called for renewed enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act. This speech is just the latest reason why businesses need to prepare for a…
Authors: Steven Cernak and Luis Blanquez The FTC’s challenge of Altria Group’s proposed minority investment in JUUL Labs, Inc. (JLI) in April 2020 generated attention in both the mainstream media and the competition law press. Press coverage since that time has hit the latest developments but often missed the important…
Authors: Steven J. Cernak and Luis Blanquez As we have discussed in several recent posts, the FTC has made several changes to the merger antitrust review process. This month, the FTC made two more changes, one completely expected and one hinted at in other recent announcements. HSR Thresholds Updated…
Author: Jarod Bona The FTC filed an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook (now Meta Platforms Inc.). Judge James E. Boasberg dismissed it. The FTC then filed an amended complaint. And the same judge just denied Facebook’s motion to dismiss that complaint. The FTC alleges that Facebook has a longstanding monopoly in…
Author: Steven J. Cernak The Federal Trade Commission continues to take subtle steps that, in total, will end up significantly changing the merger review process under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. We have already covered some of the earlier actions: withdrawal of the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines, withdrawal of one long-standing HSR…
Author: Steven J. Cernak How do you tie together evolution, the wave, and market prices? As Neil Chilson explains in his brilliant little book, Getting Out of Control, all are examples of emergent order. While Chilson is a former FTC leader, this book is not just for antitrust and consumer…
Authors: Steven Cernak and Luis Blanquez FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan keeps up her frenetic crusade to change the practice of antitrust enforcement. The new––and surely not last––change: the vertical merger guidelines. On Wednesday, September 15, 2021, the FTC held an open virtual meeting to discuss the following: Proposed Withdrawal of…
Authors: Steven J. Cernak and Luis Blanquez In late 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the attorneys-general (AGs) from 48 states filed nearly identical antitrust lawsuits against Facebook for stifling competition by acquiring potential competitors, mainly Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, and for enforcing policies that blocked…
Authors: Steve Cernak and Luis Blanquez New management at the FTC keeps reviewing all aspects of the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) premerger notification process. On August 26, the current head of the Bureau of Competition posted a change to a long-standing FTC informal interpretation about how potential HSR filers should view debt…
Authors: Steven J. Cernak and Luis Blanquez On August 3, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition announced what might seem like a small technical change to the Hart-Scott-Rodino merger review process: Some proposed mergers would receive form letters at the end of the 30-day initial review period saying…