The US DoJ and the FTC propose revisions to the horizontal merger guidelines

Last week, the United States federal antitrust agencies-the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission-released proposed revisions to the Horizontal Merger Guidelines. The Guidelines, which have been revised several times over the past 40 years, delineate how the antitrust agencies review horizontal mergers and also provide the agencies' view as to how courts should evaluate these deals. The proposed revisions significantly change the structure of the Guidelines and generally reflect a more aggressive approach to merger analysis than the previous Guidelines. However, despite some anxiety over what the new administration might do to dramatically raise the bar for mergers, the revisions predominantly reflect mainstream antitrust principles and, importantly,