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Competition Matters

Protecting consumers by promoting competition

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This is National Consumer Protection Week, a week set aside every year to help consumers know their rights and make well-informed choices in the marketplace. Here at the FTC, we’re all about...
Competition Matters

Looking back (again) at FTC merger remedies

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The newly released Remedy Study is the culmination of nearly two years of effort by FTC staff to look back at Commission merger orders from 2006 through 2012. We looked at 89 merger orders affecting...
Competition Matters

Have a plan to comply with the bar on horizontal interlocks

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With some exceptions, Section 8 of the Clayton Act prohibits the same individual from serving as an officer or director of two competing corporations. Like other portions of the forward-looking...
Competition Matters

Resetting our views on HSR Items 4(c) and 4(d)

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When submitting a Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) premerger notification filing to the FTC and DOJ, a filing party must complete the HSR Form. The HSR Form requires detailed information about the transaction...
Competition Matters

Taking a hard look at the asset package

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On Monday, the FTC accepted for public comment a proposed consent order involving a consummated merger in the eye care industry. According to the complaint, Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ 2015 acquisition...
Competition Matters

Competitive job markets offer more than just fringe benefits

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Looking for a new job can be stressful, whether you are a new worker applying for your first job or a highly trained professional seeking to advance in your career. The last thing a job-seeker should...
Competition Matters

LBOs and the size of transaction test

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The Premerger Notification Office is often asked to give guidance on how to determine the value of a proposed merger or acquisition in light of the size of transaction test. The size of transaction...
Competition Matters

Wiring your HSR filing fee just got easier

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The PNO handles Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Notification Filings for well over a thousand transactions each year. Each transaction requires the acquiring person to pay an HSR filing fee, which must be...
Competition Matters

What’s the interest in partial interests?

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Most mergers reviewed by the Commission involve the acquisition of an entire company, or an identifiable set of assets – that is, the buyer seeks to control the assets of the seller through an...
Competition Matters

Quo Vadis Post-Actavis?

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For more than 15 years, one of the FTC’s top priorities has been to put an end to anticompetitive reverse-payment settlements between brand-name drug makers and their potential generic rivals. In our...
Competition Matters

Calculating the value of stock under HSR rules

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The Hart-Scott-Rodino statute and rules contain a number of reporting thresholds for transactions subject to premerger notification filing with the FTC and DOJ. In this post, we are going to focus on...
Competition Matters

The when and what of active supervision

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Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners violated the federal antitrust laws by preventing non-dentists from providing teeth whitening...
Competition Matters

“Investment-only†means just that

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Today, the Commission (with the help of our friends at the Justice Department) filed a proposed settlement in federal court to settle charges that three funds managed by Third Point violated the Hart...
Competition Matters

A fine balance: toward efficient merger review

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One of the key functions of the Bureau of Competition is to analyze mergers. Obtaining information through Second Requests is an essential aspect of our review process for proposed acquisitions. Even...
Competition Matters

HSR Rule 802.5: the Investment Rental Property Exemption

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Every day, the PNO receives many inquiries for interpretations of the Hart-Scott-Rodino statute and rules. Recently, several questions have related to transactions involving rental property, which...
Competition Matters

Monitors: Expert eyes and ears in Commission orders

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The ability to appoint a monitor is an important tool in building a successful merger remedy. The boilerplate-style language FTC uses in merger orders when appointing a monitor belies the unique and...
Competition Matters

The not-so-big news about Big Data

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Everywhere these days, folks are talking about big data. (Apparently, even machines are talking amongst themselves using big data in an ecosystem called the Internet of Things.) Last week, Chairwoman...