DOJ/FTC Off To A Quick Start On Mergers In New Year

The first few weeks of the new year have brought a number of notable developments from the antitrust agencies with respect to merger enforcement. In addition to the usual annual revisions to the thresholds for HSR filings and Section 8 from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which increased about 4% this year, the FTC’s Bureau of Economics released a report compiling updated data on market structures and clearance decisions in second request merger investigations, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued to block a consummated non-reportable merger.