The Antitrust Agencies' New Roadmap For How They Will Analyze M&A Deals

On July 19, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) (collectively, the Agencies) released the long-anticipated updated draft Merger Guidelines¹ (the Guidelines) for a 60-day public comment period. For the first time, the FTC and DOJ have revised and combined the previous Vertical Merger Guidelines and Horizontal Merger Guidelines into one document. There are 13 new guidelines, which provide a road map of how the Agencies will analyze a proposed transaction.

While the Guidelines are not binding law,² courts typically have given previous merger guidelines considerable deference in reviewing merger challenges by the Agencies. The Guidelines should not come as a surprise, given that they reflect the Agencies' recent approach to mergers and acquisitions during the Biden administration.