Law 360 M&A

APRIL 5, 2024

A month after a group of 50 lawmakers urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate a recent string of mergers and acquisitions in the oil industry, the regulatory agency is putting Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy's planned $7.4 billion merger under the microscope.

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Law 360 M&A

JULY 11, 2023

A California federal judge gave the Federal Trade Commission little in the way of a silver lining Tuesday by rejecting virtually every aspect of the agency's challenge of Microsoft's $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard purchase, from the alleged facts of video game distribution to the governing legal standards.

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Law 360 M&A

MARCH 1, 2024

The Federal Trade Commission has urged a federal court to trim Novant Health's defenses in the agency's challenge of a $320 million plan to buy two North Carolina hospitals, citing case law holding that constitutional arguments are immaterial to the court's consideration of an antitrust injunction bid.

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Law 360 M&A

MARCH 15, 2024

Two North Carolina hospital systems shot back at the Federal Trade Commission's contention that constitutional defenses are immaterial to the agency's challenge of a $320 million merger plan, arguing that case law shows that striking the positions would be premature.

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Law 360 M&A

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

has given the Federal Trade Commission all the information the agency has asked for concerning its planned acquisition of Sovos Brands, the owner of the popular sauce brand Rao, before the agency decides whether to give the $2.7 Campbell Soup Co. billion union its blessing.

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Law 360 M&A

MARCH 12, 2024

The Federal Trade Commission announced the appointment Tuesday of a second administrative law judge, naming a former top antitrust lawyer with the New York Attorney General's Office, with experience representing the left-leaning Open Markets Institute, as the agency presses forward with its aggressive enforcement approach.

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Law 360 M&A

MARCH 7, 2024

The Federal Trade Commission's recent lawsuit to block Sanofi's acquisition of a pharmaceutical treatment developed by Maze Therapeutics builds on previous enforcement actions and could indicate the agency's growing willingness to use its so-called killer acquisition theory against perceived attempts to eliminate nascent competition, say attorneys (..)

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Law 360 M&A

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Large language modeling appears to show that public sentiment matches agency intent around the new merger control guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Justice Department, says Andrew Sfekas at Cornerstone Research.

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Law 360 M&A

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

An Arizona federal judge on Friday paused the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's insider trading case against a former executive from modular home manufacturer Cavco Industries Inc. after the two sides reached a settlement in principle on the agency's 2017 claims.

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Law 360 M&A

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan told a conference of physicians the agency is fighting corporate control at several levels of the healthcare industry, touting the sector as a key battleground in the administration's push for more competition across the economy.

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Law 360 M&A

DECEMBER 2, 2022

The Federal Trade Commission recently declared it will take a new approach to policing "unfair methods of competition," a move that broadened the agency's view of very old law.

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Law 360 M&A

JANUARY 2, 2024

A New York federal court has granted the Federal Trade Commission's request to pause IQVIA's planned purchase of Propel Media for an in-house agency challenge over concerns about competition in the digital healthcare advertising industry.

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Law 360 M&A

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

The Federal Trade Commission's bid to block Microsoft's attempted merger with Activision represents an important test for an agency eager to push antitrust enforcement in a more aggressive direction and turn the tide after a year of stinging failed merger challenges.

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Harvard Corporate Governance

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Securities and Exchange Commission, on Friday, September 9, 2022 Editor's Note: Gary Gensler is Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The views expressed in this post are those of Chair Gensler, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Staff. Thank you.

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Law 360 M&A

DECEMBER 8, 2022

The Federal Trade Commission urged a California federal judge at the start of a seven-day evidentiary hearing Thursday to pause Meta's purchase of virtual reality fitness app maker Within Unlimited while the agency investigates whether the deal is anti-competitive, scoffing at Meta's claim that a preliminary injunction will kill the deal.

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Law 360 M&A

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

After the Federal Trade Commission suffered stinging setbacks in challenges to deals by Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft, the agency has started to turn things around with several transactions dropped in the face of challenges and a pair of court rulings reinforcing its approach to merger enforcement.

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Law 360 M&A

MAY 15, 2023

federal judge on Monday ordered the Federal Trade Commission to hand over materials supporting the agency's contention that consumers would have benefited had Meta never acquired WhatsApp and Instagram, rejecting agency assertions that expert witnesses will spell out which improvements Meta allegedly blocked.

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Benzinga

MARCH 28, 2024

After informal discussions with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, Walmart agreed to voluntarily withdraw and refile the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) notification and report form for the merger. The move is expected to give the Antitrust Agencies additional time to review the proposed transaction.

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Law 360 M&A

JUNE 30, 2023

Amgen and Horizon Therapeutics have filed counterclaims against the Federal Trade Commission in Illinois federal court, becoming the latest companies to attack the constitutionality of the agency's administrative process amid a merger challenge from the commission.

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Law 360 M&A

MARCH 7, 2024

The Federal Trade Commission is calling 7-Eleven's theory that only the U.S. Department of Justice can seek civil penalties for violating commission orders "unprecedented," asking a D.C. federal judge to deny the company's motion to dismiss the agency's suit for allegedly violating a 2018 consent order.

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Law 360 M&A

AUGUST 23, 2022

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday agreed to drop its claims against Mark Zuckerberg in the agency's legal challenge to Meta Platforms Inc.'s according to a filing in California federal court. s acquisition of virtual reality device app developer Within Unlimited Inc.,

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Law 360 M&A

AUGUST 11, 2023

Amgen and Horizon Therapeutics urged an Illinois federal judge Thursday to preserve their attacks on the constitutionality of the Federal Trade Commission and its in-house process as part of the agency challenge to their $27.8 billion merger, arguing those assertions "are plainly relevant" to the case.

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Law 360 M&A

JANUARY 10, 2024

The Federal Trade Commission's in-house judge won't let Microsoft seek agency assistance demanding additional documents from Sony as the Xbox maker continues to defend its $68.7 billion purchase of Activision from an ongoing FTC challenge.

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Law 360 M&A

JULY 19, 2023

The Federal Trade Commission's only administrative law judge tacitly acknowledged the limits of agency in-house merger challenges Wednesday, noting that the federal court lawsuits ostensibly brought only to preserve the status quo while in-house proceedings play out nevertheless usually decide a transaction's ultimate fate.

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Law 360 M&A

JULY 3, 2023

The Federal Trade Commission is standing by its designated agency ethics official following a Wall Street Journal article revealing she owned stock in Meta Platforms Inc. while recommending that Chair Lina Khan recuse herself from the agency's case challenging a Meta deal, according to a statement issued Friday.

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Law 360 M&A

JULY 24, 2023

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina M. Khan defended the agency's aggressive merger enforcement tack Monday despite a series of stinging legal defeats, arguing that setbacks are outnumbered by abandoned deals.

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Law 360 M&A

SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

attorney told a Federal Trade Commission in-house judge Friday that the Facebook successor is unlikely to settle the agency's challenge to its planned purchase of virtual reality fitness app developer Within Unlimited Inc. A Meta Platforms Inc.

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Law 360 M&A

JULY 24, 2023

The Federal Trade Commission has reached terms with IQVIA, the world's largest health care data provider, and Propel Media to push off the closing date of their merger until at least late November while the agency challenges the deal.

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Law 360 M&A

JUNE 22, 2023

The Federal Trade Commission urged a California federal judge at the start of a five-day hearing on Thursday to block Microsoft's $68.7 billion merger with Activision to give the agency time to scrutinize the anti-competitive effects of the transaction while Microsoft countered that an injunction would kill the deal.

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Law 360 M&A

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

The Federal Trade Commission has voted not to recuse Chair Lina Khan from participating in the agency's in-house case challenging Facebook parent Meta Platforms' planned purchase of a virtual reality app developer while the commission plots a path forward with its federal case.

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Law 360 M&A

APRIL 14, 2023

The Federal Trade Commission could soon be fighting to save core parts of its enforcement program after a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that constitutional challenges to the agency can be brought directly to federal court.

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Law 360 M&A

JUNE 14, 2023

sought Wednesday to control the timeline on the Federal Trade Commission's newly filed California federal court lawsuit that they said "is the only decision that matters," not an ongoing agency in-house challenge. With a looming July 18 deadline baked into their merger agreement, Microsoft Corp.

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NYT M&A

JULY 12, 2023

Corporate leaders are feeling emboldened by another legal defeat for the Federal Trade Commission, though the agency may still fight to block the takeover.

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Law 360 M&A

JUNE 15, 2023

The Federal Trade Commission's and the U.S. Justice Department's recently published summary of the agencies' workshop on proposed changes to pharmaceutical merger analysis reads like a policy roadmap and its timing may forecast the release of new draft merger guidelines, say attorneys at Mintz.

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Law 360 M&A

OCTOBER 20, 2022

Meta buried data useful to a federal challenge of the company's purchase of app developer Within Unlimited in a much larger set of information, the Federal Trade Commission said in a California federal court filing as the agency and the Facebook successor traded barbs over discovery.

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Law 360 M&A

JUNE 12, 2023

Amgen and Horizon Therapeutics insisted that the Federal Trade Commission's challenge to their merger is undone by real-world market dynamics that make it impractical to bundle products that, as the agency alleges, will force customers to stick with a pair of drug monopolies.

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Law 360 M&A

JUNE 23, 2023

Microsoft's gaming chief took the stand Friday at a hearing over the Federal Trade Commission's bid to block its $68.7 and promised that contrary to the agency's prediction, the Xbox maker won't bar rival Sony from selling Activision's blockbuster Call of Duty games for PlayStation.

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