The Proposed Revisions to the Horizontal Merger Guidelines: What Firms Contemplating a Transaction Should Know

On April 20, 2010, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) released for public comment a substantial proposed revision of the Horizontal Merger Guidelines, which have not been comprehensively revised since 1992. The guidelines are designed to describe the analytical framework the agencies apply in determining whether a merger is likely to substantially lessen competition.

During this webinar, leading members of Arnold & Porter's antitrust merger practice, William Baer and Debbie Feinstein, will team with renowned economist, Dennis Carlton, to review the most significant changes that have been proposed to the current guidelines, including:

• The role of market definition, market shares, and concentration under the new guidelines
• The importance of price discrimination markets and consideration of harm to subsets of customers
• The framework for analyzing unilateral and coordinated efforts
• Monopsony power

We will discuss the rationale key FTC and DOJ officials have offered for the changes. In addition, our panelists will discuss the most effective ways of providing comments to the antitrust enforcement agencies before the guidelines are finalized. The FTC and DOJ are accepting public comments regarding their proposed revision until May 20, 2010.

Listen to or download the podcast from the Arnold & Porter website