The Biden administration has made clear its concerns about the lack of competition in the U.S. economy, nominating strong enforcement-minded leaders to head the main antitrust agencies and pioneering an administration-wide approach to competition.  The FTC – with a new Democratic majority – and the DOJ have voted to block several large mergers and focused increased scrutiny on acquisitions of “next-generation technologies” in moves that portend more aggressive enforcement to come.  At the same time, elected officials, regulators, and advocates from both the left and the right of the political spectrum have expressed growing concern about large technology platforms and their audience reach, financial power, and outsized influence.

How should companies respond to these new developments? This session will explore modern antitrust challenges that companies face, including the latest developments in merger clearance, and how boards should be approaching and overseeing the merger review process and planning for potential outcomes in this space. This session will also evaluate current antitrust efforts and priorities and consider what has changed since the confirmation of Lina Khan to the FTC and Jonathan Kanter to the DOJ, as well as what to expect going forward. 

Speakers include:

• Doug Melamed, Scholar-in-Residence, Stanford Law School (moderator0
• Mike Wyatt, Managing Director and Head of Global Technology M&A, Morgan Stanley
• Renata Hesse, Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell
• Diana Moss, President, American Antitrust Institute