WASHINGTON, D.C. -- This morning, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) published a draft of new merger guidelines. In response, Demand Progress Communications Director Maria Langholz issued the following statement:
“The new merger guidelines proposed today by the FTC and DOJ reflect critical learnings of the last decades -- and lay out a clear structure for evaluating mergers’ impacts across the economy.
“The merger guidelines of the past gave far too much room for corporations to concentrate power. The document published today by the FTC and DOJ is the first true attempt to define the rules of competition in decades, and reflects the realities of the potential harms of mergers on workers, small businesses, and the economy at large.
“We applaud the staff of the agencies for taking on this difficult task, and for providing further opportunity for the public to inform these guidelines. We look forward to working alongside the FTC and DOJ to ensure that the final guidelines promote the strong competition needed for small businesses and the American people -- not only massive corporations -- to thrive."