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I don't know if I accept Khan's framing of, even though I haven't won any cases I have scared off potential mergers and that is a win. I think the US already le

I don't know if I accept Khan's framing of, even though I haven't won any cases I have scared off potential mergers and that is a win. I think the US already leans too heavily on tying everything up in courts forever.

hn_throwaway_99 2y ago
Was the successful Google antitrust case not brought by the feds?
- megaman821 2y ago
  That was the DOJ not the FTC.
BadHumans 2y ago
Don't fall for the Silicon Valley propaganda that things are on the downswing because the FTC is not allowing mergers or acquisitions. Plenty of both of those have happened this year. DirectTV is in the process of acquiring Dish Network and SlingTV which is one of the largest acquisitions of the year and should alone perish the thought that mergers aren't happening.
- dylan604 2y ago
  If only the FTC could claim credit for the disappearance of free money
- megaman821 2y ago
  The claim that there are less mergers happening is from Khan not Silcon Valley. “Sometimes, you know, the companies decide that they’re going to abandon the merger,” Khan said. Stahl asked if abandoning a merger amid the FTC’s scrutiny was a win, to which Khan said, “That’s right.” https://legal-mag.com/ftcs-lina-khan-defends-merger-and-acquisition-crackdown-in-60-minutes-interview/ https://legal-mag.com/ftcs-lina-khan-defends-merger-and-acqu...
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    It's a mix of both. Some mergers fall through under regulation fear. Others fall through because aquisitions are expensive and it'd take years to make up for the cost (like the activision/blizzard one that was announced when money was cheap and went through when money became expensive).
  - consteval 2y ago
    Yes, because some mergers are bad. Like really really bad. For you and me, consumers. If adobe merged with figma that would be catastrophic for that domain. Prices would skyrocket, quality would invariably fall off, and innovation would stagnate due to lack of competition. Part of having a free market is maintaining it. You can't have a free market if it's constantly consolidating into a monopoly or pseudo-monopoly. This is bad for the products, for the market, and for the consumer. The keyword in that last sentence is market. Plenty of people will argue what the FTC is doing is stifling economic growth - but it's the opposite. Anti-competitive behavior stifles economic growth in the long run, so preventing it allows smaller companies to grow and innovate. Keeping slow moving giants on life support and de-facto welfare is not good for the economy.
    - megaman821 2y ago
      I don't disagree with some of the aims of Lina Khan, mostly just the strategy. Scaring away potential mergers is much, much less valuable than establishing case law or getting legislation passed. It is kinda parallel to overreliance on executive orders over legislative wins.
      - BadHumans 2y ago
        You can't establish case law if you don't take cases. Companies not wanting to go through with mergers because they are afraid of the FTC investigating them sounds like a side effect and not the intent.
      - consteval 2y ago
        > Scaring away potential mergers is much, much less valuable than establishing case law or getting legislation passed There're a few problems with this: 1. Our lawmakers are incredibly inefficient, and many dedicated their lives to ensuring new laws don't get passed. Doesn't matter what the law is, they're career "blockers" 2. Our courts are not unpartisan, and many are conservative-leaning, and they'll simply continually strike down laws until they make it up and up and then the extremely conservative supreme court blocks it. This has been Texas' strategy.
- shiroiushi 2y ago
  >DirectTV is in the process of acquiring Dish Network and SlingTV which is one of the largest acquisitions of the year What's wrong with that? Who still watches TV (either OTA or from satellite) in this age, except for elderly people who haven't figured out how to use the internet? This seems like people complaining about the consolidation of companies in the landline telephone market. It's a dying market, so of course the companies still hanging on are going to merge so they can save costs and squeeze the few remaining customers more.
mrandish 2y ago
Yes, Khan has been a disaster for the FTC. Grossly overreaching, media grandstanding and then quickly losing in court in not-even-close rulings is not some kind of win.
- Loughla 2y ago
  What rulings are you talking about?
mrkurt 2y ago
I'd piss off a lot of investors I know by saying this – nerfing the Adobe and Figma acquisition seems excellent for consumer good. 3 years ago that would have just been rubber stamped. Their work on non-tech stuff has probably been even more effective, too.
johnnyanmac 2y ago
>I think the US already leans too heavily on tying everything up in courts forever. yes, because companies have decided to consider courts as a cost to do business instead of a regulator they must not piss off at any cost. the courts in that capacity will simply be abused, especially as these fast moving tech companies can make billions beofore a case shuts it all down. Definitely needs to be some reform to how punishment works, especially retroactive costs.

hn_throwaway_99 2y ago

Was the successful Google antitrust case not brought by the feds?

megaman821 2y ago
That was the DOJ not the FTC.

BadHumans 2y ago

Don't fall for the Silicon Valley propaganda that things are on the downswing because the FTC is not allowing mergers or acquisitions. Plenty of both of those have happened this year. DirectTV is in the process of acquiring Dish Network and SlingTV which is one of the largest acquisitions of the year and should alone perish the thought that mergers aren't happening.

dylan604 2y ago
If only the FTC could claim credit for the disappearance of free money
megaman821 2y ago
The claim that there are less mergers happening is from Khan not Silcon Valley. “Sometimes, you know, the companies decide that they’re going to abandon the merger,” Khan said. Stahl asked if abandoning a merger amid the FTC’s scrutiny was a win, to which Khan said, “That’s right.” https://legal-mag.com/ftcs-lina-khan-defends-merger-and-acquisition-crackdown-in-60-minutes-interview/ https://legal-mag.com/ftcs-lina-khan-defends-merger-and-acqu...
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  It's a mix of both. Some mergers fall through under regulation fear. Others fall through because aquisitions are expensive and it'd take years to make up for the cost (like the activision/blizzard one that was announced when money was cheap and went through when money became expensive).
- consteval 2y ago
  Yes, because some mergers are bad. Like really really bad. For you and me, consumers. If adobe merged with figma that would be catastrophic for that domain. Prices would skyrocket, quality would invariably fall off, and innovation would stagnate due to lack of competition. Part of having a free market is maintaining it. You can't have a free market if it's constantly consolidating into a monopoly or pseudo-monopoly. This is bad for the products, for the market, and for the consumer. The keyword in that last sentence is market. Plenty of people will argue what the FTC is doing is stifling economic growth - but it's the opposite. Anti-competitive behavior stifles economic growth in the long run, so preventing it allows smaller companies to grow and innovate. Keeping slow moving giants on life support and de-facto welfare is not good for the economy.
  - megaman821 2y ago
    I don't disagree with some of the aims of Lina Khan, mostly just the strategy. Scaring away potential mergers is much, much less valuable than establishing case law or getting legislation passed. It is kinda parallel to overreliance on executive orders over legislative wins.
    - BadHumans 2y ago
      You can't establish case law if you don't take cases. Companies not wanting to go through with mergers because they are afraid of the FTC investigating them sounds like a side effect and not the intent.
    - consteval 2y ago
      > Scaring away potential mergers is much, much less valuable than establishing case law or getting legislation passed There're a few problems with this: 1. Our lawmakers are incredibly inefficient, and many dedicated their lives to ensuring new laws don't get passed. Doesn't matter what the law is, they're career "blockers" 2. Our courts are not unpartisan, and many are conservative-leaning, and they'll simply continually strike down laws until they make it up and up and then the extremely conservative supreme court blocks it. This has been Texas' strategy.
shiroiushi 2y ago
>DirectTV is in the process of acquiring Dish Network and SlingTV which is one of the largest acquisitions of the year What's wrong with that? Who still watches TV (either OTA or from satellite) in this age, except for elderly people who haven't figured out how to use the internet? This seems like people complaining about the consolidation of companies in the landline telephone market. It's a dying market, so of course the companies still hanging on are going to merge so they can save costs and squeeze the few remaining customers more.

mrandish 2y ago

Yes, Khan has been a disaster for the FTC. Grossly overreaching, media grandstanding and then quickly losing in court in not-even-close rulings is not some kind of win.

Loughla 2y ago
What rulings are you talking about?

mrkurt 2y ago

I'd piss off a lot of investors I know by saying this – nerfing the Adobe and Figma acquisition seems excellent for consumer good. 3 years ago that would have just been rubber stamped. Their work on non-tech stuff has probably been even more effective, too.

johnnyanmac 2y ago

>I think the US already leans too heavily on tying everything up in courts forever. yes, because companies have decided to consider courts as a cost to do business instead of a regulator they must not piss off at any cost. the courts in that capacity will simply be abused, especially as these fast moving tech companies can make billions beofore a case shuts it all down. Definitely needs to be some reform to how punishment works, especially retroactive costs.