Ben Gris is a partner in the Antitrust practice of Shearman & Sterling. Ben specializes in antitrust investigations and litigations with a focus on mergers and acquisitions. Ben joined the firm in 2018 after serving for nearly 12 years at the Federal Trade Commission, most recently spending three years as Assistant Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. During his time at the FTC, Ben served as lead investigator, manager, and/or litigator on hundreds of matters, including frequent collaboration with foreign antitrust agencies on cross-border transactions. Ben was also involved in the development of best practices for cross-border merger review and interagency cooperation. As Assistant Director, Ben was the head of the FTC’s Mergers II Division, which oversees investigation and litigation in a wide range of industries, including chemicals, automotive, semiconductors, computer hardware and software, recorded music, tobacco, fertilizers, and a variety of intermediate products. Prior to becoming Assistant Director, Ben served as a Deputy Assistant Director of the Mergers II Division from 2011-2015. Ben is also a frequent speaker at ABA, International Competition Network, and other organizational events.
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On Friday, the Supreme Court held, 9-0, that two plaintiffs—Ms. Cochran and Axon Technologies—could bring their constitutional challenges against the SEC and the FTC directly in federal court, bypassing a statutorily created administrative process through which the agencies had asserted claims (...)
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Introduction Last week, the FTC announced two significant moves. First, the FTC brought its first major standalone Section 5 actions, targeting certain companies’ employment noncompete agreements as unfair methods of competition. The very next day, the FTC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (...)
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On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed into law The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 also known as The Omnibus Funding Bill (the “Bill”). The Bill includes the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act which provides for significant changes to the current filing fees under the (...)
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On November 10, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a policy statement (the “Policy Statement”) radically expanding the FTC’s interpretation of prohibited “unfair methods of competition” under Section 5 of the FTC Act. According to the Policy Statement, in determining whether something (...)
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On Wednesday, October 19, 2022, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) announced that seven directors resigned from their board positions because of DOJ’s concerns that holding the positions violated the Clayton Act’s prohibition on interlocking directorates. Discussed more fully (...)
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The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is expected to be granted wider jurisdictional powers for merger control enforcement in legislative proposals mentioned in today’s Queen’s Speech. The powers derive from the outcome of a consultation on reforming competition and consumer policy (...)
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On January 21, 2022, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the annual changes to the thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the “HSR Act”). The official publication is expected to be released in the Federal Register on January 24, 2022. (...)
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What This Means for Merger Enforcement, Technology Platforms, Healthcare, Banking and Consumer Finance and Labor Markets On Friday, July 9, 2021, President Biden signed a sweeping Executive Order (and provided an accompanying FACT Sheet) with the stated goal of using existing antitrust laws (...)
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On February 2, 2021, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the annual changes to the thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the “HSR Act”). The new size of transaction threshold is $92 million. The new HSR Act thresholds will go into (...)
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Overview The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ” and collectively, the “Agencies”) recently proposed changes to two aspects of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (“HSR Act”).The proposed rules are subject to public comment and are unlikely to come into (...)
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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, “Agencies”) released the final version of the Vertical Merger Guidelines (“Vertical Guidelines”) on June 30, 2020. The new Vertical Guidelines, which had not been updated in more than 35 years, outline how (...)
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The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has, at least temporarily, reshaped the way that many companies do business. Nevertheless, companies must continue to be vigilant about compliance with the antitrust laws and understand that the U.S. antitrust agencies will continue to scrutinize their behavior (...)
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On January 28, 2020, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the annual changes to the thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the “HSR Act”). The new size of transaction threshold is $94 million. The new HSR Act thresholds will go into (...)
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On Friday, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released joint draft Vertical Merger Guidelines (“Guidelines”) for public comment. This much anticipated revision to the Guidelines, which had not been updated in more than 35 years, (...)
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revised, and once again raised, the thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the “HSR Act”). The new HSR Act thresholds were published in the Federal Register on March 4, 2019 and will go into effect on April (...)
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