Antitrust Yearly Wrap-Up: Active On All Fronts

Matching expectations, 2018 was an active year filled with contentious merger reviews, increased civil/criminal enforcement actions, and pivotal policy shifts. Here's what to remember about 2018 and what to expect in 2019.

Mergers

The AT&T/Time Warner saga continues. AT&T's $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner was one of the most publicly watched and debated antitrust matters in recent years. To recap, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued to enjoin the merger even though the parties were not horizontal competitors; rather the transaction combined AT&T distribution capabilities with Time Warner's content portfolio. In essence, the DOJ's vertical theory of harm alleged that the merger may increase the combined entity's bargaining power such that it would deny or upcharge Time Warner content to AT&T's competitors that would then pass higher fees on to consumers. Of note, the DOJ had not sought to challenge a vertical merger in federal court in more than 40 years