DOJ Merger Investigation Closure Credits AI Competition And Highlights Targeted Second Request Reviews

Reasoning that growing AI competition would protect against the risk of potential competitive harm in the sales enablement software space, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced closure of its investigation into a proposed merger between Seismic Software, Inc. and Highspot Inc., two of the leading sales enablement software providers. In doing so, the DOJ appears to have embraced its commitment to efficiently focus in-depth merger reviews on key issues and defenses in an effort to short-circuit the merger review timeline.

It is not often that the DOJ publicly provides its rationale for closing merger investigations. When it does, it is usually for especially high profile or politically sensitive transactions. It is unlikely that this transaction was viewed in either sense within the DOJ. So, the DOJ’s decision to publicly explain its closing decision for this transaction is particularly interesting, especially as it relates to AI competition in the technology sector