RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Reining in Big Tech

• GOOGLE’S BREAK UP PROCEEDS. Last year, a federal judge found Google Search is an illegal monopoly. Though Google intended to appeal the decision, the case moves forward to determine how the big tech giant’s business model must change. DOJ and 38 state AGs released an update to their ideas proposed during the last administration. The government is still recommending the court force Google to divest Chrome and limit exclusionary contracts, but has backed off a ban on AI investments. Google’s suggestions are more limited, like increasing flexibility around default browser settings. Each party will make arguments directly in the court’s evidentiary hearing on April 22. Keep up to date with the latest Big Tech trial developments with Economic Liberties’ fact sheet.

Building Worker Power

• PROTECTING WORKERS? As the administration lays off tens of thousands of federal employees, 80% of whom live outside Washington, a new set of antitrust enforcers are pledging to use their authority to protect workers. In a Fox News interview, FTC Chair Ferguson committed to addressing anticompetitive conduct in labor markets, and he launched a taskforce to prosecute such conduct, potentially targeting non-compete and no-poach agreements. And in their confirmation hearings, newly confirmed DOJ Antitrust AAG Gail Slater and FTC Commissioner, Mark Meador, also committed to prosecuting illegal noncompete agreements. Chair Ferguson’s FTC, however, has temporarily paused its appeal of a federal court decision to block implementation of the agency’s rule banning noncompetes and will provide an update to the court in 120 days.

Airlines

• SPIRIT FLIES ON. After a Republican-appointed judge blocked their proposed merger with JetBlue, and Frontier unsuccessfully tried to acquire them for a second time, Spirit Airlines instead filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2024. The move allowed the low-cost carrier to restructure in light of its financial problems. While some speculated the bankruptcy portended the carrier’s demise, this week the court approved Spirit’s plan to exit bankruptcy after dropping less profitable routes and adding 37 new routes. Spirit will still have to navigate a turbulent airline market, with most major carriers seeing drops in stock prices and big carriers announcing reduced capacity.

Finance

• BANKING COPS OFF BEAT. In 13 years, the CFPB has returned over $20 billion to customers, so it’s no wonder two thirds of Americans support the agency. Despite these results, Congress is rolling back their efforts to save Americans money, especially when it comes to reining in Big Tech. Senate Republicans rolled back the digital payments rule, which gives the Bureau jurisdiction over tech companies like X or Venmo, including when they may try to debank consumers. Only Sen. Hawley (R-MO) sided with Democrats to save the rule. In addition, House Republicans voted to rescind the CFPB’s rule capping banking overdraft fees at $5. The administration is also seeking to gut the agency’s operations by terminating CFPB employees, including those responsible for responding to consumer complaints. OMB Director Russ Vought also has dropped CFPB lawsuits against Capital One, Berkshire Hathaway, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan, moves nominated permanent director Jonathan McKernan tacitly supported. Watch former Director Chopra on CNN discussing the risks of a gutted CFPB and his 60 Minutes interview on the dangers of DOGE’s handling of the CFPB.

Improving Health Care

• BREAK UP BIG MEDICINE. Since launching last month, almost 70,000 Americans have joined Economic Liberties’ effort to Break Up Big Medicine. The campaign calls for structurally separating vertically integrated healthcare monopolies to eliminate conflicts of interest, reduce costs, and improve quality of care. In 2024, UnitedHealth Group (UHG,) the nation’s largest health care conglomerate and a Fortune 20 company, acquired or created more than 250 subsidiary companies. But federal scrutiny continues. Trump’s DOJ launched a civil fraud investigation into UHG for upcoding Medicare patients to bloat payments from the government. Sen. Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter to UHG CEO Andrew Witty demanding information on its Medicare billing practices. President Trump also recently confirmed an intention first expressed in an EO to take on healthcare middlemen like PBMs. And in a recent House Energy and Commerce bipartisan members, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14,) called for passing legislation to reduce PBMs’ market power.

Trade

• APRIL 2 TARIFF DAY LOOMS. The administration has indicated they will clarify their tariff and trade agenda on April 2^nd. Still unknown is whether they will close the de minimisloophole, which results in up to $100B of uninspected imports entering the U.S. annually, including goods from big Chinese companies like Temu and Shein that evade tariffs, including the administration’s new tariffs on China. In a NYT op-ed, Rep. Deluzio (D-PA-17) detailed his own pro-tariff take to reshore U.S. manufacturing and counter unfair imports.

Blocking Mergers

• FTC TAKES ON HEALTHCARE. Bipartisan FTC commissioners have sued to block private equity firm GTCR from buying Surmodics, the largest manufacturer of hydrophilic coatings. GTCR already owns a majority stake in Biocoat, the second largest medical device coating manufacturer, so the $627 million deal would give the PE firm 50% control of the market. The FTC is scrutinizing a $615 million merger between the two largest U.S. healthcare staffing firms, Aya Healthcare and Cross Country Healthcare, which work with “travel nurses,” temporary staff for hospitals and health systems and for schools and homes, respectively.
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• MERGER FILING FORMS AT RISK? Biden’s FTC and DOJ updated the congressionally mandated premerger notification filing or “HSR” forms businesses submit before gaining approval for a deal. The bipartisan updates require more detail about ownership structure so enforcers can efficiently identify anti-competitive concerns. Rep. Fitzgerald (R-WI-05) has introduced a CRA to block the rule, citing concerns about small business impacts. In reality, however, only about 16% of transactions are reportable, and of those, 99% are more than $100M. In addition, FTC Chair Ferguson praised the rule when it took effect on February 10^th. Economic Liberties sent a letter opposing the CRA and also released a fact sheet on the rule.
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• BIG ADVERTISING GETS A SECOND LOOK. In December, Omnicom, one of the world’s largest advertising firms, announced its $13B purchase of its rival, the Interpublic Group, which result in a firm with 100,000 employees and $25B in annual revenue. Now, the FTC is requesting more information about the deal, and could eventually block it. Previously, Rep. Jordan (R-OH-04), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, launched an investigation into the merger over concerns about the firms’ participation in a now-defunct coalition of ad firms coordinating boycotts of the X social media platform for political reasons that DOGE-director Elon Musk had challenged in court. Musk is also calling on the ad firms to use X or further imperil their merger’s approval, a move Democratic Senators wrote to AG Bondi and FTC Chair Ferguson expressing concern that the move could amount to violations of ethics laws and bribery.

Lowering Prices

• EGG PRICES SCRAMBLE. Egg prices have dropped in recent weeks, but consumers are still paying on average 50% more than last year. Avian flu is the industry’s favorite explanation as to why, but others point the finger at large egg producers colluding to resist supply increases. In fact, five companies, control 46% of U.S. egg-laying hens, with Cal-Maine controlling over 20% of the market and now earning $1B annually. DOJ Antitrust has heeded the requests from Farm Action and Sen. Warren (D-MA) and launched an investigation into whether anticompetitive conduct is driving these high prices and profits. FTC Chair Ferguson has yet to answer Commissioner Bedoya’s call to launch an investigation of their own. In a WSJ op-ed, Secretary of Agriculture Rollins outlined a plan to curtail further price increases by giving $400 million to farmers effected by the avian flu, a pay out that would further fuel consolidation instead of lowering prices.
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• WHAT’S IN A PRICE? As American consumer sentiment drops precipitously amid inflation concerns, companies flirt with further cost fluctuations employing surveillance pricing—using personal data to set individual prices. In January, the FTC released findings from its 6(b) study on the practice citing the need for future enforcement, which now Chair Ferguson voted against. The Washington Post recently featured an Economic Liberties report on surveillance pricing harms including on wages and the need to ban the practice.

ICYMI

• Gail Slater was confirmed as DOJ Antitrust AAG with a bipartisan vote.
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• FTC Commissioner Mark Meador nominee was voted out of the Commerce Committee.
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• CMS Administrator nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz pledged to take on Medicare Advantage fraud during his confirmation hearing.
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• A Missouri Judge rejected the Big Three PBMs’ attempt to dismiss the FTC’s insulin case against them.
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• The CEOs of Kroger and Albertson have resigned after their failed merger.
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• Capital One’s and Discover’s stockholders approved the $35 billion acquisition of Discover, but the deal is still pending federal approval as President Trump’s businesses sue CapOne for “debanking.”
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• Chair Ferguson has an open comment docket on Big Tech censorship until May 21.
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• Scott (R-TX) has introduced a bill to block financial regulators from considering “reputational risk” when deciding whether to take action against a bank.
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• FDIC rescinded their Biden-admin bank merger policy, which newly considered factors such as small business loans when considering the approval of a merger.
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• Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) and Rep. Luna (R-FL-13) introduced a House companion bill to cap credit card interest rates at 10%, following the lead of Senators Hawley (R-MO) and Sanders (I-VT) bill.
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• AZ AG Mayes encouraged AG Bondi to continue prosecuting RealPage for algorithmic price fixing in rental housing.
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• A former Meta employee whistleblower claims the company censored content to curry favor with the Chinese government.
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• Advocates oppose the GENIUS Act, a bill that would give Big Tech the ability to enter the banking sector with its own stablecoin, further entrenching monopoly power.
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• DOJ is asking a judge to force Live Nation-Ticketmaster to produce documents related to their antitrust lawsuit, and a judge denied Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s attempt to dismiss the DOJ’s lawsuit.
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• Private equity firm Sycamore bought Walgreens for $10 billion, yet another impact of PBM consolidation.
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• Former FTC Chair Lina Khan joined Organized Money to discuss her tenure at the agency.
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• HHS Secretary Kennedy moved to stop the agency from receiving public comment on rulemakings. Secretary Kennedy will convene the first Make America Healthy Again Commission meeting behind closed doors.
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• Zephyr Teachout identifies gaps in policy proposals in the new book Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson.
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• FTC Chair Ferguson joined Odd Lots for a discussion on the future of antitrust.
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• Two pharmacists are filing a lawsuit against U.S. hospital systems and a professional pharmacist association for restricting hiring, wages, and training.