Fenwick antitrust & competition partner Steve Albertson will speak at GCR Live: Antitrust in the Digital Economy in San Francisco on May 17. Steve will participate in the panel "What next for merger control in the online economy?" from 1:15-2:15 pm PT.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority became the first antitrust agency to block an acquisition by one of the four Big Tech companies when it ordered Facebook to unwind its already-completed acquisition of Giphy in November 2021. Across the Atlantic meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice have issued rallying cries calling for tougher, more dissuasive merger enforcement in technology markets while looking to “undo” previous unchallenged deals. New tools, rules and processes are also being developed that make it easier for various agencies to scrutinise and challenge mergers. And yet despite this wave of stricter rhetoric and enforcement, the European Commission has shown its willingness to clear Google/Fitbit and Facebook/Kustomer without any structural remedies.
View a detailed schedule of the conference and list of speakers here.