The U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have mounted an unprecedented number of legal challenges to mergers since Biden came to office in 2021.
The Justice Department lost a merger in the insurance industry but won an effort to stop a book publisher merger.
Deal advisers said companies had already braced for a tough antitrust regime under Biden and some had been emboldened by the regulators' recent court losses.
"The (regulators' guidelines) do provide more transparency but that transparency also reveals some concerns that they are quite hostile to consolidation.
The new antitrust guidelines also reflect the White House's focus on labor issues.
Persons:
Gonzalo Fuentes, Joe Biden's, Biden, Department's, Kenneth Schwartz, Flom, Fiona Schaeffer, Milbank, Elizabeth Warren, Warren, Diane Bartz, Richard Chang, Chizu Nomiyama, Daniel Wallis
Organizations:
Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, U.S . Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard Inc, FTC, Meta, Justice Department, JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines Inc, Amazon.com, Amazon, Flom LLP, Global, LSEG, Intelligence, Democrat, Congress, Thomson
Locations:
Porte, Paris, France, WASHINGTON, Skadden, Slate