FTC And DOJ Jointly Issue Draft Merger Guidelines

Proposing a radically different conception of government enforcement merger guidelines, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") and the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), on July 19, 2023, jointly issued draft merger guidelines ("Draft Guidelines") that would replace current Merger Guidelines, which were revised last in 2010. Stating that the "goal of this update is to better reflect how the agencies determine a merger's effect on competition in the modern economy," the structure of the Draft Guidelines replaces the step-by-step economically analytical approach to merger analysis with a manifesto of 13 doctrinaire statements that will instead guide the Agencies' analysis. See FTC/DOJ Press Release dated July 19, 2023.