Everyone’s a Reasonable Government Target: The New Antitrust Reality for Boards
Companies that consistently paid attention to the preferences of the FTC and the DOJ’s Antitrust Division generally fared better than their peers that neglected antitrust or competition issues when contemplating acquisitions. However, with the appointments of Lina Khan at the FTC and Jonathan Kanter at the DOJ, nearly every technology company (large or small, acquisitive or passive) is likely to be materially impacted by these agencies in the years ahead. Big technology companies, in particular, are at a crossroads as government scrutiny over competition, market impact, and general influence increases. While antitrust issues are technically at the center of such scrutiny, the new reality suggests that companies should expect reviews of their labor practices, their power over customers, and even social media footprints, in addition to all of the traditional areas of anti-competitive scrutiny. This new level of attention is likely to have both upstream and downstream chilling effects on small and large company acquisitions and mergers and means that boards must pay even more attention to evolving public policy and antitrust enforcement trends.
SVDX recently hosted a small group session around antitrust issues for boards, discussing new methods to cope with these changes and, in some cases, point the way to competitively advantageous strategies that can give the nimble corporation a headstart in dealing with an era of more aggressive government scrutiny.
Jamillia Ferris, Partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, provided expert insight for the session. Please see the following links for additional information around current antitrust issues:
https://www.wsgr.com/en/insights/distribution-merger-challenges-at-the-ftc.html