Articles Posted in DOJ Antitrust Highlights

On March 29, the DOJ announced that it will not challenge Cisco Systems Inc.’s acquisition of Tandberg ASA. The EU also cleared the transaction, however, it required conditions for its approval.The DOJ concluded that the proposed deal was not anticompetitive because of the evolving nature of the videoconferencing market and the commitments that Cisco made…

On March 8, 2010, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s (Blue Cross-Michigan) subsidiary, Blue Care Networks of Michigan, abandoned its attempt to purchase Physicians Health Plan of Mid-Michigan (PHP) after the Department of Justice and the Michigan Attorney General informed the companies that they would file an antitrust lawsuit to block the acquisition.The Antitrust Division…

On January 25, 2010, the Department of Justice entered into a settlement agreement with Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. that allowed it to complete its acquisition of Live Nation, Inc. The settlement agreement required Ticketmaster to license its ticketing software, divest ticketing assets and subject itself to anti-retaliation provisions in order to proceed with its proposed merger…

On January 20, the Department of Justice reached a settlement with the Daily Gazette Company and MediaNews Group Inc. (now known as Affiliated Media Inc.), that requires the companies to restructure their newspaper joint operating arrangement (JOA) and take other steps to remedy the anticompetitive effects of the 2004 transaction, which was originally challenged by…

On January 14, the DOJ announced that it has opened a formal antitrust investigation of the soybean seed industry. Monsanto announced that the DOJ’s Antitrust Division sent it a civil investigative demand (“CID) for information on the company’s soybean traits business after complaints that Monsanto was trying to limit access to push a new, pricier…

On December 16, 2009, Cisco announced that the DOJ terminated the mandatory waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976, as amended, with respect to Cisco’s pending acquisition of Starent Networks. The DOJ chose not to issue a second request to review Cisco’s acquisition of Starent even though the acquisition led to increased…

On October 13, 2009, Arctic Glacier International (“AGI”) and three of its former executives, Frank Larson (former senior VP of operations), Keith Corbin (former VP of sales), and Gary Cooley (former VP of sales and marketing), pled guilty for their role in a conspiracy to allocate customers of packaged-ice in the Detroit metropolitan area and…

On October 13, 2009, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) settled with AT&T Inc. (“AT&T”) regarding its $944 million acquisition of Centennial Communications Corp. (“Centennial”). Specifically, AT&T is required to divest its assets in eight Cellular Marketing Areas (“CMA”), as defined by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”), in southwestern and central Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi in…

On September 8, 2009, the Department of Justice announced that it would not challenge the formation of a Reliance Network, a joint venture between seven regional less-than-truckload (“LTL”) freight transportation companies, based on the representations made by the applicants.The Reliance Network is comprised of: Averitt Express Inc.; DATS Trucking Inc.; Lakeville Motor Express Inc.; Land…