. @JusticeATR just filed to block Aon's $30 billion merger with Willis Towers Watson, a deal between the no. 2 and no. 3 insurance brokers that would create the world's biggest insurance brokerage. More TK.
For the TL;DR set: combining the no. 2 and no. 3 insurance brokerage would lead to higher prices for the 1,000 largest U.S. companies, who use Aon and WTW to help them set up and manage insurance plans for employees and retirees.
Aon and Willis Towers Watson say they remain "fully committed" and the transaction has been made more important by the pandemic. aon.mediaroom.com/2021-06-16-Aon…
"We disagree with the U.S. Department of Justice's action, which reflects a lack of understanding of our business, the clients we serve and the marketplaces in which we operate."
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This story started it's life as this chart. I wanted to look at how the House bills zoomed in on the companies (ALSO special thanks to @wordsbykam for listening to me ramble on a Friday afternoon and then making it into something understandable)
The Justice Department and the FTC designate “covered online platforms” for enhanced enforcement only if the companies meet certain thresholds: The business’ parent company must have a market value of at least $600 billion -- something only 10 corporations worldwide meet
There's been a lot of antitrust news today. Sen. Mike Lee and Chuck Grassley also dropped their own antitrust overhaul. Here's the one-pager: lee.senate.gov/public/_cache/…
There's stuff in here that's DOA for Dems -- like eliminating the FTC's antitrust jurisdiction and giving it to @JusticeATR. But there are other things that could gain some consensus.
@JusticeATR Civil fines for knowing violations of the antitrust laws of up to 15% of a company's annual revenues for each year in which the violation occurred. That's in line with EU fines, which can be big $ (see Google's $10B or so)
The FTC improperly held that 1-800 Contacts trademark agreements violated the antitrust law, the 2nd Circuit held this AM. They reversed the FTC decision and ordered the complaint be dismissed. Big loss for FTC. More TK.