DOJ and FTC Release , New Draft Merger Guidelines.<br />DOJ and FTC Release , New Draft Merger Guidelines.<br />The Federal Trade Commission and <br />Department of Justice released draft updates to America's merger guidelines on July 19, CNN reports.<br />The Federal Trade Commission and <br />Department of Justice released draft updates to America's merger guidelines on July 19, CNN reports.<br />It's been over 10 years since <br />such changes have been proposed.<br />If adopted, the updated guidelines <br />would affect how the American government addresses merger deals it finds anticompetitive.<br />Unchecked consolidation threatens <br />the free and fair markets upon <br />which our economy is based, Attorney General Merrick Garland, via statement.<br />These updated merger guidelines <br />respond to modern market realities and <br />will enable the Justice Department to transparently and effectively protect the American people from the damage that anticompetitive mergers cause, Attorney General Merrick Garland, via statement.<br />The public is welcome to express its opinion about the draft updates until Sept. 18, CNN reports.<br />These guidelines really represent a much more nuanced, on-the-ground view of the different ways in which illegal mergers can hurt people, including workers, Senior official, via CNN.<br />Mergers involving multiple smaller deals would also be subject to more scrutiny.<br />In many instances, the problem with a merger isn’t always that a company is buying a direct competitor, but it might be buying a company that threatens its dominance, either through disintermediation or through technologies that might disrupt and displace its position, Senior official, via CNN.<br />For example, the FTC is currently suing to break up Facebook's ownership of both Instagram and WhatsApp
