Recent US Antitrust M&A Developments - February 2023

Aggressive merger enforcement continued through the end of 2022, with the agencies having mixed results in the courts. With several high-profile investigations still pending, the expectation is for aggressive enforcement to continue. Below are notable developments in three merger enforcement actions.

Court Blocks Merger of Two Large Publishing Houses

In November 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a complaint in federal court seeking to block the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, claiming the acquisition would substantially lessen competition in the market to acquire rights to “anticipated top-selling books” in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act. The court held a twelve-day trial in August 2022, and in October it issued an order blocking the merger. In its decision, the court found that the combined company would wield increased leverage in negotiations for book rights, resulting in competitive harm in the form of lower