Pins matching tag:Antitrust

On 24 September 2024 the US Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Visa of monopolizing the debit card market, alleging that 60% of US debit transactions run on its network and that it charges over US$7 billion a year in fees.

US District Judge Jennifer Rochon granted the FTC a preliminary injunction halting Tapestry's proposed acquisition of Capri Holdings, ruling that the accessible-luxury handbag rivals were close competitors whose merger would hurt consumers.

HPE closed its all-cash purchase of Juniper Networks at $40 a share, doubling its networking business, days after settling the Justice Department's antitrust suit by agreeing to sell its Instant On unit and license Juniper's Mist AI source code.

Cloud-provider lobby CISPE asked the EU General Court (Case T-503/25) to annul the Commission's 12 July 2023 clearance of Broadcom's acquisition of VMware (Case M.10806). It argues the Commission failed to assess the deal's effects on server virtualisation software, bundling and innovation.

Germany's competition authority cleared Salesforce's acquisition of sole control of Informatica, finding that rivals such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and IBM already hold similar data assets.

On 2 September 2025 US District Judge Amit Mehta declined to order Google to sell Chrome or Android but barred exclusive search deals and ordered it to share some search data with qualified competitors.

U.S. District Judge James Donato dismissed with prejudice the Sherman Act claims that Hermès illegally tied Birkin bag sales to other purchases, ruling the plaintiffs never defined a viable product market or showed harm to competition.

The UK consumer group Which? began a 12-day liability trial at the Competition Appeal Tribunal over claims that Qualcomm's licensing practices inflated what 29 million Britons paid for Apple and Samsung phones.

China's market regulator opened an investigation into Qualcomm for completing its purchase of Israeli V2X chip designer Autotalks without notifying Beijing, after telling the regulator in 2024 it had dropped the deal.

On 10 November 2025 Visa disclosed a proposed settlement with US merchants that would cut average credit interchange by 10 basis points for five years, cap standard consumer credit rates at 125 basis points and ease the honor-all-cards rule.

On 18 November 2025 US District Judge James Boasberg ruled that the FTC had failed to prove Meta holds a monopoly in social networking, so Meta keeps Instagram and WhatsApp; the FTC has since said it will appeal.

The FTC sent civil investigative demands to at least half a dozen Microsoft rivals, asking whether its licensing hobbles Windows and Office on other clouds and how it bundles AI, security and identity software.

Which? and Qualcomm signed a 'drop hands' settlement ending its UK class action, valued at about GBP 482.5 million, with no money for consumers, and jointly asked the Competition Appeal Tribunal to approve it.

The European Commission ordered Broadcom and VMware International to hand over documents within five weeks in case AT.40924 (VMware software licensing), after receiving information alleging Broadcom abuses a dominant position in virtualisation software. The allegations are tying or bundling VMware products, abusive prices, limited interoperability and unfair contract terms.

A week into the Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly trial in Manhattan, the Justice Department filed a signed settlement that caps ticketing fees at 15%, opens Live Nation events to rival ticket sellers and drops 13 exclusive amphitheatre deals - without breaking up Ticketmaster.

European Commission officials made unannounced antitrust inspections at a chocolate maker's premises in two EU countries over possible restrictions on cross-border trade, and Ferrero confirmed it was the company.

A federal jury in Manhattan found Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally monopolised primary ticketing and amphitheatres and overcharged fans $1.72 a ticket, a win for 33 states and the District of Columbia that pressed on after the Justice Department settled.

Broadcom and VMware International asked the EU General Court to annul the Commission's 26 February 2026 information decision in case AT.40924, in so far as it compels documents held outside the EU and legal advice privileged under US and other non-EU law (Case T-280/26).

The Competition Appeal Tribunal approved a settlement that ends Which?'s GBP 480 million class action against Qualcomm with no payment, finding the claim no longer had a realistic prospect of success.

The General Court's President dismissed Broadcom's bid to suspend the Commission's demand for communications with in-house lawyers qualified outside the EU, finding no prima facie case and that the Commission's interest in enforcing competition rules prevails (T-280/26 R). The annulment action continues.

Judge P. Casey Pitts entered the consent decree clearing HPE's Juniper Networks deal in a 41-page order that found DOJ leadership overrode its own antitrust staff, but held that 12 states and DC had not shown the Instant On sale and Mist source-code licence were against the public interest.

Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected the DOJ's bid to make Google sell its AdX ad exchange, ordering behavioral remedies overseen by a Monitor and Technical Committee instead. Google still stands found liable for monopolizing ad tech.

Google and the Justice Department must file one jointly proposed Final Judgment in the ad tech antitrust case by 2 October 2026, writing Judge Brinkema's behavioral remedies into an order that takes effect 60 days after she enters it.

Paramount closed its Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition on October 6. The combined company, Skydance, brings Paramount and Warner studios, HBO Max and Paramount+, CBS and CNN under one owner.

The previously reported March 2027 trial schedule has been superseded by settlements. A judge approved the states' agreement on September 30, and AP reported that the Writers Guild also settled its separate suit. Paramount completed the acquisition on October 6.

The FTC and state attorneys general take Amazon to a bench trial before Judge John Chun over claims it illegally keeps its online marketplace monopoly by overcharging sellers and punishing those who offer lower prices elsewhere. The trial has slipped twice from its original October 2026 date.

NVIDIA expects to complete its roughly $11.9 billion purchase of Hugging Face in the first half of 2027, once regulators approve the deal.