By Josh Beckerman
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department's Antitrust Division are seeking public input in modernizing merger guidelines, seeking to improve enforcement against "illegal mergers."
"Recent evidence indicates that many industries across the economy are becoming more concentrated and less competitive - imperiling choice and economic gains for consumers, workers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses," the agencies said. They said "these problems are likely to persist or worsen due to an ongoing merger surge that has more than doubled merger filings from 2020 to 2021."
The FTC and DOJ "encourage the public, including market participants, government entities, economists, attorneys, academics, unions, employees, farmers, workers, businesses, franchisees and consumers, to share feedback, evidence and ideas that may inform revisions to the guidelines."
The agencies seek to address issues topics like the impact of "monopsony power, including in labor markets" as well as the unique characteristics of digital markets such as "zero-price products, multi-sided markets, and data aggregation that the current guidelines do not address in detail."
Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-18-22 1355ET
