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☆ Senate Democrats press for Justice Department inquiry into PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON — Two top Senate Democrats with a track record of scrutinizing business and antitrust activity have called for a Justice Department investigation into the merger agreement between the PGA Tour and Saudi-funded LIV Golf. The letter follows Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal's inquiries to PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman for details on the merger. The PGA Tour also insists the deal isn't a merger and that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund will be a minority investor. The deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf would put an end to pending antitrust litigation between the two golf organizations. Family members of 9/11 victims have protested the Saudi golf league due to the terrorists' ties to the country.

Persons: Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, LIV, Elizabeth Warren of, General Merrick Garland, Jonathan Kanter, Connecticut Democratic Sen, Richard Blumenthal's, Jay Monahan, Greg Norman, Monahan, LIV Golf, DOJ didn't, Yasir Al, Rumayyan, LIV Golf's, Osama Bin Laden, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Jamal Khashoggi, Warren, Wyden, –, Jessica Golden Organizations: U.S, Capitol, WASHINGTON —, Democrats, Justice Department, PGA Tour, Saudi, LIV Golf, Oregon, Connecticut Democratic, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, DOJ, CNBC, PGA, Public Investment Fund, Washington Post, Senate Banking Committee, Finance Locations: Sens, Washington , DC, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, U.S, Saudi, Saudi Arabia

☆ Facebook-Giphy sale shows how fear of regulators is slowing M&A market
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri touted Giphy's "amazing team" and "expressive" userbase, and stressed Giphy's user data was "not the motivation." The sale was forced by the U.K.'s antitrust regulator, which ruled Meta's acquisition posed a risk to the social media and advertising markets. Jonathan Kanter, who helms the Department of Justice's Antitrust Unit, and Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission's chair, have been given wide latitude by President Joe Biden to pursue potentially anticompetitive behavior. Prior to his DOJ posting, Kanter worked in private practice, advising directors and executives on potential deals and attendant regulatory pitfalls. Van Grack, the former chief of the DOJ's Foreign Agent Registration Act unit, noted regulatory scrutiny was increasing for years prior to the current administration.

☆ DOJ antitrust chief Kanter: Antitrust laws exist to promote a competitive, resilient economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailDOJ antitrust chief Kanter: Antitrust laws exist to promote a competitive, resilient economyJonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the state of antitrust scrutiny in the U.S., whether antitrust laws and enforcement help or hurt business competition, and more.

☆ DOJ antitrust chief Kanter: We are at our best when we are a 'free, open, vibrant market'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailDOJ antitrust chief Kanter: We are at our best when we are a 'free, open, vibrant market'Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the state of antitrust scrutiny in the U.S., whether antitrust laws and enforcement help or hurt business competition, and more.

☆ GC Agenda: May 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Practical Law The Journal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +23 min

Clawback Listing StandardsPublic companies should be aware that proposed NYSE and Nasdaq clawback listing standards may be in place earlier than expected. Organizations may use biometric data in a variety of ways, including when:tracking employee time; restricting access to physical and digital assets; monitoring consumer shopping behavior; and integrating biometric data into consumer products and services. Consider whether the organization’s current policies and procedures meet applicable biometric data handling requirements, including notice, consent, retention, storage, and security obligations. Review applicable laws and obligations when contracting with service providers that handle biometric data and continuously monitor their performance. In February 2023, the NYSE and Nasdaq filed proposed new listing standards, which contemplated that they could become effective as early as April 27, 2023.

☆ Spooked dealmakers scurry back into their foxholes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Jeffrey Goldfarb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

NEW YORK, March 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Jonathan Kanter, a lawyer by training, has become something of a magician. Pay closer attention, however, and Kanter is methodically rewriting a decades-old regulatory playbook. Last year, these breakup charges reached their highest level in a decade, at an average 4.5% of deal prices. The Department of Agriculture partnered with the DOJ on the case, another feature of Kanter’s plan of attack. As legal weaknesses emerge, dealmakers should be in position to better structure transactions and defend themselves at trial.

☆ Google stacks its legal team with former DOJ employees as it faces antitrust cases
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

Former DOJ employees make up both its in-house team and members of outside counsel firms it employs. Google also uses four different outside counsel firms loaded with nearly 20 former DOJ officials, many of whom worked in the Antitrust Division at various times. The DOJ made the accusation in a legal filing after Epic Games raised the concern in its own antitrust litigation against Google. Those firms collectively have around 20 former DOJ employees on their staff, many of them working in antitrust. For example, DOJ antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter previously worked for clients including Microsoft and Yelp which have complained of Google's allegedly anticompetitive behavior.

☆ DOJ will hire more data experts to scrutinize digital monopolies, antitrust chief says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Justice Department will expand its stable of data experts charged with analyzing how businesses use and abuse consumer data to violate US antitrust law, the agency’s antitrust chief told CNN in an onstage interview Monday. DOJ’s antitrust division plans to post additional job listings for data scientists and analysts, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter said at a Washington conference. Under Kanter, the division has already hired technologists and a chief economist with a background in computer science and machine learning. “A lot of the assumptions have been that consumers can discipline bad behavior [of a company] by switching. But if consumers don’t switch as easily as they used to, or if consumers are being nudged in one direction or another, that’s a market reality we need to understand.”

☆ The Senators who grilled Ticketmaster's executives over Taylor Swift tickets want the Department of Justice to keep examining the company's merger with Live Nation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee are asking the DOJ to keep examining Ticketmaster and Live Nation. The letter and hearing come after renewed interest in the 2010 merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Neither Live Nation Entertainment nor the Department of Justice immediately replied to Insider's request for comment. The senators note that, following their hearing on Ticketmaster and Live Nation, they, like Swift, had a question. They said they asked how many concerts every year were simultaneously promoted by Live Nation and ticketed by Ticketmaster.

☆ DOJ reportedly accelerates Apple antitrust investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Department of Justice has accelerated its antitrust investigation into Apple , The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Politico reported in August that the DOJ was in the "early stages" of drafting a potential complaint against the company. It's still unclear what role DOJ antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter will play in the investigation or any potential enforcement action. The Justice Department has two ongoing antitrust lawsuits against Google , with the first expected to go to trial in September. Read the full report at The Wall Street Journal.

☆ DOJ Suit to Break Up Google Was Years in the Making for Antitrust Chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON— Jonathan Kanter has been one of Google’s main legal foes for nearly 15 years. Last week, as the nation’s top antitrust cop, he delivered a threat to break up the internet company. Mr. Kanter, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for antitrust, filed a lawsuit alleging that Google is an illegal monopolist in the market for brokering ads on the internet. Some of the complaints trace back to early 2000s, when Mr. Kanter started questioning Google’s role in the digital economy on behalf of his then-legal clients, including Microsoft Corp.

☆ The DOJ's antitrust case against Google is ambitious but risky
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

But alongside the possibility of great reward comes significant risk in seeking to push the boundaries of antitrust law. "All antitrust cases are an uphill battle for plaintiffs, thanks to 40 years of case law," said Rebecca Haw Allensworth, an antitrust professor at Vanderbilt Law School. But, Allensworth added, the government's challenges may be different than those in many other antitrust cases. Like all antitrust cases, this one is unlikely to be concluded anytime soon. "This is clearly the blockbuster case so far from the DOJ antitrust division," Francis said.

☆ DOJ files second antitrust suit against Google, seeks to break up its ad business
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday filed its second antitrust lawsuit against Google in just over two years. This lawsuit, focused on Google’s online advertising business, seeks to make Google divest parts of the business and is the first against the company filed under the Biden administration. Google also faces three other antitrust lawsuits from large groups of state attorneys general, including one focused on its advertising business led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The company has long denied that it dominates the online advertising market, pointing to the market share of competitors including Meta’s Facebook. Google and other tech companies have also faced increasing scrutiny from abroad, particularly in Europe, where Google has also fought multiple competition cases and new regulations threaten major changes to tech business models.

☆ DOJ sues Google over its dominance in online advertising market
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The Justice Department and eight states sued Google on Tuesday, accusing the company of harming competition with its dominance in the online advertising market and calling for it to be broken up. The move marks the Biden administration’s first blockbuster antitrust case against a Big Tech company. Having inserted itself into all aspects of the digital advertising marketplace, Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies.”The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Tuesday’s suit marks the federal government’s second antitrust complaint against Google since 2020, when the Trump administration sued over Google’s alleged anticompetitive harms in search and search advertising. Third-party estimates suggest that Google and Facebook (now known as Meta) accounted for the majority of US digital ad revenues until about 2017, with Google taking about a third of the market.

☆ Google Critic Is Cleared to Work on U.S. Antitrust Matters Involving Search Giant
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Miles Kruppa | Sam Schechner | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general in charge of antitrust, was appointed in part because of his position on big tech companies. The Justice Department recently cleared its top antitrust official to oversee cases and investigations involving Alphabet Inc.’s Google, people familiar with the matter said, empowering the longtime critic of the search giant to work on a potential lawsuit aimed at the company’s ad-tech business. The move ends more than a year of uncertainty about whether Jonathan Kanter , the assistant attorney general in charge of antitrust, would be able to shape that long-running investigation. Google had asked that the Justice Department recuse Mr. Kanter from cases against the company, citing federal rules and an executive order by the Biden administration around possible conflicts.

☆ Justice Department official cleared to oversee Google probes -source
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The Justice Department's top antitrust official recently won approval from the department to oversee investigations involving Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), a person briefed on the matter told Reuters. The Justice Department and Google declined to comment on Friday. In November 2021, Google asked the Justice Department to consider requiring Kanter to recuse himself because of his work for a long list of Google critics like Yelp Inc (YELP.N), which Alphabet described as "vociferously advocating for an antitrust case against Google for years." The Justice Department's October 2020 lawsuit alleges Google violated antitrust law in how it maintained dominance in search and search advertising. For example, it pointed to billions of dollars that Google paid annually to Apple (AAPL.O), LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS) and others to ensure Google search was the default on their devices.

"It's a combination of the FTC and (Justice Department) being willing to litigate and the fact that companies are fighting back," Grosberg said. More recently, they have lost four attempts to block mergers in court, though they are appealing two of the cases. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Break-up fees that acquirers agree to pay their targets if their deal gets shot down by antitrust regulators are also on the rise. Many companies facing merger challenges say they will fight on, emboldened by the four court losses of the Justice Department and FTC.

☆ Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster merger is blocked by judge
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Penguin Random House quickly condemned the ruling, which it called “an unfortunate setback for readers and authors.” In its statement Monday, the publisher said it would immediately seek an expedited appeal. The publishing industry has been consolidating for years with little interference from the government, even when Random House and Penguin merged in 2013 and formed what was then the biggest publishing house in memory. The joining of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster would have created a company far exceeding any rival. Penguin Random House’s global CEO, Markus Dohle, had promised that imprints of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster would still be permitted to bid against each other for books. Pan otherwise persistently challenged Penguin Random House’s assurances that the merger would not reduce competition.

☆ Stephen King makes for unlikely antitrust hero
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A U.S. judge blocked Penguin Random House’s $2.2 billion acquisition of rival Simon & Schuster on Monday after the Department of Justice argued it would unfairly limit pay for top authors such as Stephen King. Adding Simon & Schuster would give it 70% of the literary nonfiction market, according to NPD Book Scan. The Department of Justice drew a line in its challenge to Penguin, distinguishing highly paid writers from the rest. Follow @jennifersaba on TwitterloadingCONTEXT NEWSA U.S. judge on Oct. 31 ruled that a planned $2.2 billion merger of Penguin Random House and rival Simon & Schuster cannot go forward. German media group Bertelsmann, the owner of Penguin, agreed to buy Simon & Schuster from Paramount Global in 2020.

☆ U.S. says seven board directors resigned under antitrust pressure
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Seven directors on the boards of five companies have resigned because of the U.S. Justice Department's concerns over the directors holding similar board positions at rival companies, the department said on Wednesday. Two others representing Thoma Bravo on the SolarWinds board also resigned, the department said. SolarWinds said in a legal filing dated Oct. 14 that the three board members had decided to resign after receiving a letter from the Justice Department alleging that their board service broke antitrust law. A spokesperson for Udemy said a director stepped down on Sept. 23 because of U.S. Justice Department concerns. Directors also resigned from the board of Definitive Healthcare (DH.O), Redwire Corp (RDW.N) and CTS Corp (CTS.N) because they were on the boards of competing companies, the department said.

☆ JetBlue won the battle for Spirit. Now it has to win over Biden's Justice Department
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-28 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

JetBlue Airways finally won over Spirit Airlines with a $3.8 billion takeover deal . JetBlue Airlines and Spirit Airlines are seen on the departure board in the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on May 16, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. President Joe Biden's Justice Department has vowed to challenge out any deals that could harm competition. The Justice Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment but the agency's antitrust chief, Jonathan Kanter, has promised a hard stance against anti-competition. Without that, "there would be a public perception that [the Justice Department] just caved," he said.

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