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Event

2023 Merger Guidelines and the decision to keep them

On 18 December 2023 the FTC and Justice Department issued merger guidelines that treat markets above an HHI of 1,800 as highly concentrated; on 18 February 2025 their new leaders told staff to keep applying them.

2 links, 1 backed by primary records

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Dates
18 Dec 2023 – 18 Feb 2025

On 18 December 2023 the FTC and Justice Department issued merger guidelines that treat markets above an HHI of 1,800 as highly concentrated; on 18 February 2025 their new leaders told staff to keep applying them.

Connections 2

involved

  • U.S. Department of Justice issued the guidelines with the FTC; its acting head told staff on 18 February 2025 to keep applying them Primary record 1
  • U.S. Federal Trade Commission issued the guidelines with DOJ; Chair Ferguson’s memorandum of 18 February 2025 kept them Scholarship & press 2
Timeline 1 date
  1. 18 Dec 2023 – 18 Feb 2025 2023 Merger Guidelines and the decision to keep them
Proof 2 sources
  1. Merger Guidelines, U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, 18 Dec 2023. Primary record
    Markets with an HHI greater than 1,800 are highly concentrated, and a change of more than 100 points is a significant increase.
  2. Here to Stay? FTC and DOJ Announce that 2023 Merger Guidelines Remain in Effect, WilmerHale, 28 Feb 2025. Scholarship & press
    expressed concern that the agencies could take a credibility hit if they change the guidelines “with every new administration” in a way that is “obviously partisan.”
Page history 3 changes
  1. Second revision of Too Big to Fail: the FTC's 1917 finding, the 1952 report's seven firms, the 1984 hearing record, and corrected cards for Spirit, beef, tickets, Google and the final verdictAlibek05663c47
  2. Revise Too Big to Fail after the skeptic's review: read to 2 November 2026, a verdict card that separates findings from shares, the 1929 fight with its scandal and the board's stand, and sources for every cardAlibekc819f2cb
  3. Add the story Too Big to Fail: Standard Oil's stockholders, the phrase's origin in 1984, and market-by-market cases to November 2026Alibekaa9c434d

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