On December 18, 2023, the U.S. antitrust enforcers, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) (collectively, the “Agencies”), issued their final Merger Guidelines...more
12/22/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act ,
Vertical Mergers
On August 16, 2023, the US Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) brought its first enforcement action under Section 8 of the Clayton Act in 40 years. At the same time, the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (“DOJ” and...more
vOn July 19, 2023, the U.S. antitrust enforcers, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) (collectively, the “Agencies”), released draft merger guidelines for public...more
8/15/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Draft Guidance ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Public Comment ,
SCOTUS ,
United Healthcare Insurance Co. ,
Vertical Mergers
On June 27, 2023, the FTC and DOJ (the Agencies) jointly announced proposed changes to the HSR premerger notification form. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which appeared in the Federal Register, includes provisions that...more
Last week, U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden dismissed a case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) against several aerospace engineering bosses for alleged anticompetitive use of no-poach agreements. This...more
On Friday, February 3, DOJ announced that it is withdrawing three policy statements of antitrust guidance it has provided and that have been adopted by the healthcare industry for close to 30 years. The statements include...more
On January 23, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced revised jurisdictional thresholds for determining whether a proposed transaction must be reported to federal authorities under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR)...more
On November 10, 2022, the US Federal Trade Commission issued a new Policy Statement indicating that the current Commission plans to expand its use of Section 5 of the FTC Act. Such an expansion would constitute a significant...more
On January 24, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced revised jurisdictional thresholds for determining whether a proposed transaction must be reported to federal authorities under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR)...more
As summarized in the July 9, 2021 King & Spalding Client Alert, President Biden issued an executive order on July 9, 2021 designed to enhance competition across multiple sectors of the U.S. economy. One of the order’s key...more
7/14/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Collusion ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trade Secrets ,
Wage-Fixing
The White House announced today that President Joe Biden issued an expansive executive order designed to enhance competition across multiple sectors of the U.S. economy, including healthcare, technology, internet service,...more
On January 7, 2021, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice announced a two-count indictment of Surgical Care Affiliates LLC (“SCA”), which owns and operates outpatient medical care centers across the...more
On December 10, 2020, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of Neeraj Jindal, a former owner of a therapist staffing company, for a criminal conspiracy to fix wages paid to physical...more
12/15/2020
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Civil Sanctions ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Sanctions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Indictments ,
Investigations ,
No-Poaching ,
Wage-Fixing
On Tuesday, June 30, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission issued new Vertical Merger Guidelines (the “Guidelines”). Vertical mergers involve the combination of firms operating at...more
On March 24, 2020, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (the Agencies) issued guidance and outlined an expedited review process for companies seeking to work together...more
On Friday, March 13, 2020 the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced plans to implement temporary new procedures for the submission of Hart-Scott-Rodino pre-merger notification...more
On Friday, January 10, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission issued new guidelines for the agencies’ review of vertical mergers. Vertical mergers involve the combination of firms...more
1/22/2020
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Comment Period ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
Public Comment ,
Supply Chain ,
Vertical Mergers
On June 13, 2019, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction blocking the proposed merger of North Dakota healthcare providers Sanford Health, Sanford Bismarck (collectively, “Sanford”)...more
6/18/2019
/ Administrative Hearings ,
Antitrust Division ,
Appeals ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Evidence ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hospital Mergers ,
Hospitals ,
Mergers ,
Monopolization ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Rebuttal
The DOJ Antitrust Division’s high profile, unsuccessful attempt to block the AT&T/Time Warner merger ended on February 26, 2019 after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed the trial court’s decision to allow...more
4/10/2019
/ Antitrust Division ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
AT&T ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Mergers ,
Remedies ,
Self-Help Remedies ,
Television Broadcast Stations ,
Time Warner ,
Vertical Mergers
On February 15, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced revised jurisdictional thresholds for determining whether a proposed transaction must be reported to federal authorities under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR)...more
The Department of Health and Human Services (the “Department”), in conjunction with the Treasury Department, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Labor, recently issued a report describing a number of concerns...more
The Premerger Notification Office (“PNO”) of the Federal Trade Commission recently announced it would change how it and the Department of Justice evaluate transactions that involve the combination of one or more...more