As a capstone on the Biden administration’s aggressive 2023 antitrust enforcement, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly issued revised Merger Guidelines before the holidays, replacing the Horizontal Merger Guidelines issued by the Obama administration in 2010 and the Vertical Merger Guidelines issued by the Trump administration in 2020.
The 2023 Merger Guidelines reflect many of the aggressive and novel theories of harm that the DOJ and FTC have pursued under the Biden administration through enforcement actions and also enunciated in speeches.
Cooley published an alert that puts the 2023 Merger Guidelines in the context of the overall antitrust enforcement climate, describes the key changes from preexisting guidelines and discusses what the guidelines mean for the future of antitrust enforcement and dealmakers.
