The Antitrust Week In Review
Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.
Broadcom facing EU antitrust scrutiny over market dominance: Bloomberg. Broadcom Inc. is facing antitrust scrutiny from the European Union over the possible use of its market dominance to pressure customers to buy its semiconductors, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The preliminary inquiry by the EU focuses on Broadcom’s sales of chips in set-top box hardware used by the cable and satellite industry, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter and a questionnaire issued by the European Commission. Broadcom’s practices are also being examined by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the report added, citing one of the people.
London Forex Traders Found Not Guilty in U.S. Rigging Case. Three former London-based currency traders were found not guilty on Friday of U.S. charges that they schemed to rig benchmark exchange rates, the latest verdict to emerge from a U.S. probe into the multitrillion-dollar foreign exchange market. Chris Ashton, Rohan Ramchandani and Richard Usher, who worked at Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., respectively, were acquitted of all charges by a jury in Manhattan federal court after a trial of conspiring to violate the Sherman Act, a federal antitrust law.
Linde-Praxair deal clears final hurdle with U.S. antitrust nod. Industrial gases groups Praxair and Linde won U.S. antitrust approval for their $86 billion merger on Monday, clearing the last hurdle for the deal in the nick of time. The all-share merger of equals will create an industry leader with revenues of about $27 billion based on 2017 figures, and 80,000 employees across more than 100 countries, which will be called Linde plc.
Sony Makes No Concessions to EU Regulators in EMI Music Bid. Sony Corp. has not offered concessions to European Union antitrust regulators reviewing its $2.3 billion offer for control of EMI to become the world’s largest music publisher, the European Commission website showed. EU antitrust regulators earlier this month asked rivals and users whether they think the Japanese group would use its greater market power to win better terms in digital media deals. The deadline for proposed concessions in the European Commission’s preliminary assessment of the deal was Oct. 19. The EU executive’s website showed that Sony had not submitted any.
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