The Antitrust Division agreed not to challenge the United-Continental merger when the merging airlines agreed to lease 18 pairs of takeoff and landing slots at Newark Liberty International Airport to discount carrier Southwest Airlines. Aside from the concern about barrier to entry into Newark, which were alleviated by the leasing agreement, the Antitrust Division took [...]
Category Archives: Merger Review
New Merger Guidelines Released
August 19, 2010 – 3:30 pm
The United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, and the Federal Trade Commission have released new merger guidelines explaining how the enforcement agencies review horizontal mergers. The merger guidelines have existed in various forms since 1968. The last major revision was in the mid-1990s. The agencies announced last fall that they were planning to revise the [...]
DOJ Attack on Milk Processing Plant Merger to Move Forward
August 18, 2010 – 1:18 pm
E.D. Wisconsin Judge J.P. Stadtmueller held that the Department of Justice’s complaint seeking to undo a consumated merger between milk processing plants adequately stated a claim despite less than precise allegations of the relevant geographic market. The court nevertheless expressed disappointment with the lack of specificity in the complaint.
Private Challenge to Nestle Acquisition Dismissed
July 26, 2010 – 3:36 pm
Judge Savador Casellas, District of Puerto Rico, dismissed a challenge to Nestle’s acquisition of an ice cream distributor in Puerto Rico on the ground that because ice cream sales increased while prices remanded stable the plaintiff could not demonstrate antitrust injury.
EC Closes Investigation of Major Airline Joint Venture
July 26, 2010 – 2:27 pm
The EC closed its investigation into the British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia, joint venture, concluding that commitments that the airlines offered were sufficient to alleviate the anticompetitive concerns. The parties pledged to make landing and take-off slots available at London Heathrow airport to facilitate the entry or expansion of competitors on routes between London and several major US airports.
DOJ & Election Systems Agree on Asset Sell Off
May 28, 2010 – 2:00 pm
The Antitrust Division is requiring Election Systems & Software (”ESS”) to sell off allversions of Premier’s hardware, software, and firmware used to record, tabulate, transmit or report votes. The buyer must also be granted a license to use ESS’s software for disabled voters. A division spokesperson stated that the divestiture will restore competition allowing for [...]
FTC Wins Order to Undo Battery Merger
May 28, 2010 – 1:36 pm
FTC ALJ ordered Polypore to sell the stake in Microporous to an FTC-approved buyer within six months of the final order. Polypore had acquired the battery maker just over two years ago, and the FTC at that time sought unsuccessfully to block the deal. The ALJ found that the FTC demonstrated that the merger had [...]
FTC Permits Google Acquisition of AdMob to Move Forward
May 26, 2010 – 1:55 pm
After expressing some concerns about the competitive effects of Google’s acquisition of AdMob, the FTC unanimously voted to close the investigation citing Apple’s recent acquisition of Quattro Wireless and plans to become an aggressive competitor in the mobile advertising network market.
DOJ Permits Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger to Move Forward With Divestitures
February 26, 2010 – 12:19 pm
Update February 2010: The UK enforcement authorities have withdraw their prior approval and are reconsidering the merger.
The Department of Justice agreed not to challenge the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger upon the condition that Ticketmaster would license ticketing software to AEG, enabling that company to offer a competitive ticketing alternative and provides the incentive for it to [...]