Articles Posted in DOJ Antitrust Highlights

On September 7, the DOJ announced that ALLTEL Corporation agreed to divest assets in rural areas of Minnesota in order to proceed with its $1.075 billion acquisition of Midwest Wireless Holdings LLC. The DOJ said that the deal as originally proposed would have resulted in higher prices, lower quality, and diminished investment in network improvements…

On August 10, the DOJ announced that it would not oppose a proposal by the American Trucking Associations Inc. (ATA) to develop and publicize model agreements for motor carriers and freight transportation brokers. The DOJ said the model agreements are not likely to be anticompetitive.The DOJ’s position was stated in a business review letter from…

On August 8, the DOJ announced it would not oppose a proposal which would allow 10 textile maintenance companies to bid jointly to provide textile rental and laundry services to national healthcare outpatient centers. Based on representations made in the proposal by Linen Systems for Healthcare LLC, the DOJ concluded that the proposed joint venture…

On August 1, the DOJ Antitrust Division announced that it would require Mittal Steel Company N.V. to divest one of three North American tin mills it will own after its $33 billion acquisition of Arcelor S.A. in order to proceed with the deal. After a thorough investigation, the DOJ concluded that the original deal would…

Also on July 14, several parties asked the FCC to deny license transfers related to the proposed sale of Verizon Communications, Inc.’s (“Verizon”) Puerto Rico telecom assets – including the incumbent local exchange carrier and its second largest wireless service operator – to America Movil S.A. de C.V. (“American Movil”). Competitors are concerned that the…

On July 11, Smith & Nephew’s Endoscopy division acquired San Antonio-based OsteoBiologics Inc. Smith & Nephew officials say they will pay $72.3 million in cash for OBI, which is a private company. OBI sells bioabsorbable bone graft substitutes in Europe to repair cartilage defects in the knee, and offers the substances in the United States…

On July 10, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division announced that the third in a series of planned joint public hearings designed to examine the antitrust implications of single-firm conduct under the antitrust laws will take place on July 18, 2006, in Washington, DC. As previously announced, these public hearings…

On June 27, the Commission authorized the filing of comments, prepared jointly with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, with the New York State Assembly Committee on the Judiciary regarding proposed legislation to expand the scope of activities constituting the unauthorized practice of law.In the comments, the FTC and DOJ address Assembly Bill A05596,…

On June 27, the Department of Justice announced that it will require The McClatchy Company and Knight Ridder Inc. to divest the St. Paul Pioneer Press in order to proceed with their proposed multi-billion dollar newspaper merger. The DOJ said that the transaction, as originally proposed, would have eliminated head-to-head competition between McClatchy and Knight…

On June 26, orthopedic device manufacturers revealed the issuance of federal subpoenas tied to potential violation of antitrust law from the Department of Justice. Zimmer Holdings Inc., Biomet Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Stryker Corp. all said they had received subpoenas from the Antitrust Division demanding documents related to the manufacture and sale of the…