On April 13, 2008, Google completed its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, the dominant online advertising server and ad exchange operator. The merger, approved by the Federal Trade Commission in December 2007, combined Google’s search advertising dominance with DoubleClick’s …
GoogleDoubleClickFederal Trade CommissionPamela Jones Harbour (dissenting FTC Commissioner)David Rosenblatt (DoubleClick CEO)googledoubleclickmergerantitrustftc+3 more
AT&T Inc. (formerly SBC Communications) completed its $85.8 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corporation with FCC approval, reassembling much of the former Bell System that was broken up in 1984 as an antitrust remedy. The merger consolidated control over telecommunications infrastructure across …
AT&T Inc.BellSouth CorporationFederal Communications Commission (FCC)SBC Communicationsantitrustconsolidationmergertelecommunicationsregulatory-capture+2 more
Private equity firm Ares Management acquired Aspen Dental in 2006, launching an aggressive roll-up strategy that would help consolidate the fragmented dental industry and establish the template for private equity’s systematic monopolization of healthcare sectors including dental, veterinary, …
Aspen DentalAres ManagementLeonard Green & PartnersAmerican Securitiesantitrustconsolidationprivate-equitydentalhealthcare+4 more
Oracle Corporation completed its acquisition of PeopleSoft on December 13, 2004, for approximately $10.3 billion ($26.50 per share), concluding an 18-month hostile takeover battle after defeating the Department of Justice’s antitrust challenge. The final purchase price represented more than …
The U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit on February 26, 2004, seeking to block Oracle Corporation’s proposed hostile acquisition of PeopleSoft, alleging that the merger would substantially reduce competition in the enterprise software market and result in higher prices, less …
Department of JusticeOraclePeopleSoftLarry Ellisonantitrustoraclecorporate-consolidationdojcompetition
The U.S. Department of Justice reaches a settlement with Microsoft on November 1, 2001, abandoning the structural breakup remedy ordered by Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson in favor of behavioral restrictions. The Bush administration DOJ, after taking office in January 2001, announces on September 6, …
U.S. Department of JusticeMicrosoft CorporationGeorge W. BushJohn AshcroftBill Gates+1 moreantitrusttech-monopolyregulatory-captureenforcement-failurecorporate-power+2 more
The U.S. Department of Justice, joined by Attorneys General from 20 states and the District of Columbia, files antitrust charges against Microsoft on May 18, 1998, alleging the company violated the Sherman Act by using its operating system dominance to thwart competition. The complaint charges four …
U.S. Department of JusticeMicrosoft CorporationBill GatesJoel KleinJanet Reno+1 moreantitrusttech-monopolyregulatory-capturecorporate-powerenforcement-failure+1 more
The Federal Trade Commission approved Boeing’s $13.3 billion acquisition of McDonnell Douglas, completing a merger wave that reduced major U.S. defense contractors from 51 firms in the late 1980s to just five dominant primes by the late 1990s. The consolidation wave was actively encouraged by …
BoeingMcDonnell DouglasFederal Trade CommissionDepartment of DefenseLes Aspin+1 moreantitrustconsolidationmergerdefense-contractorsoligopoly+3 more
Reagan’s Antitrust Chief William Baxter released the Department of Justice’s 1982 Merger Guidelines, fundamentally transforming how the federal government evaluated mergers and effectively repealing Congressional antitrust statutes through administrative policy. The FTC simultaneously …
William F. BaxterDepartment of JusticeFederal Trade CommissionRonald Reaganantitrustregulatory-capturechicago-schoolmerger-guidelinescorporate-power+1 more
The Department of Justice and AT&T finalize the antitrust settlement requiring the telecommunications giant to divest its seven regional Bell operating companies (Baby Bells) in 1984, breaking up the AT&T natural monopoly. However, this settlement paradoxically marks the end rather than …
AT&TDepartment of JusticeRonald ReaganRobert Borkantitrustmonopolyderegulationreagan-administrationcorporate-power
President Ronald Reagan appointed Stanford Law Professor William F. Baxter as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, marking the formal beginning of antitrust enforcement collapse and the operationalization of Chicago School ideology throughout the federal government. Baxter, a …
Ronald ReaganWilliam F. BaxterDepartment of JusticeStanford Law SchoolSenator Howard Metzenbaumantitrustregulatory-capturechicago-schoolreagan-administrationenforcement-collapse+1 more
Ronald Reagan’s inauguration marked the beginning of the most consequential transformation in American antitrust policy since the Sherman Act of 1890—an eight-year systematic dismantlement of competition enforcement that would enable four decades of corporate consolidation and monopolization. …
Ronald ReaganWilliam F. BaxterDouglas GinsburgRobert BorkFrank Easterbrook+3 moreantitrustregulatory-capturechicago-schoolreagan-administrationenforcement-collapse+2 more
President Gerald Ford signed the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR Act), requiring companies to notify the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Antitrust Division of large proposed mergers and wait 30 days before consummating transactions, giving regulators time to …
Gerald FordSenator Philip HartSenator Hugh ScottRepresentative Peter RodinoFederal Trade Commission+1 moreantitrustmerger-enforcementregulatory-frameworkcorporate-powerpremerger-notification
The Federal Communications Commission formally adopts the “seven-station rule” (Report and Order in Docket No. 8967, 18 F.C.C. 288) establishing that no single entity may own more than seven AM radio stations, seven FM radio stations, and seven television stations nationwide, with the …
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)media-regulationownership-limitsseven-station-rulefccantitrust+2 more
Congress passed the Celler-Kefauver Anti-Merger Act, championed by Representative Emanuel Celler (D-NY) and Senator Estes Kefauver (D-TN), fundamentally strengthening the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 and giving the government powerful new tools to prevent anticompetitive mergers. The Act closed …
U.S. CongressRepresentative Emanuel CellerSenator Estes KefauverHarry TrumanFederal Trade Commissionantitrustmerger-enforcementcorporate-powercompetitioncold-war
The Federal Communications Commission imposes the first national ownership restrictions for television stations at the dawn of the television industry, limiting any single entity from owning, operating, or controlling more than three television stations nationwide. The rule implements the …
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)media-regulationownership-limitsfcctelevisionantitrust+1 more
Congress authorizes the Temporary National Economic Committee (TNEC) on June 16, 1938, launching the most comprehensive investigation of monopoly power and economic concentration in American history. Chaired by Senator Joseph O’Mahoney of Wyoming, the committee conducts three years of hearings …
Franklin D. RooseveltJoseph O'MahoneyThurman ArnoldU.S. Congressmajor corporationsantitrustmonopolycorporate-concentrationnew-dealcongressional-investigation
On April 29, 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sends a special message to Congress warning that concentrated corporate power poses an existential threat to American democracy, using language that explicitly links economic monopoly with the rise of fascism. Roosevelt declares that “the …
Franklin D. RooseveltU.S. Congressconcentrated corporate interestscorporate-powerfascismantitrustnew-dealdemocracy+1 more
Congress passed the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), co-sponsored by Senator Joseph T. Robinson (D-AR) and Representative Wright Patman (D-TX), prohibiting anticompetitive price discrimination by producers. The law responded to the growing power of chain stores like the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea …
U.S. CongressSenator Joseph T. RobinsonRepresentative Wright PatmanFederal Trade Commissionantitrustregulatory-captureprice-discriminationcorporate-powersmall-business
The Supreme Court rules that the Journeymen Stone Cutters Association of North America violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by declaring stone from Bedford Cut Stone Company and 23 other Indiana limestone producers “unfair” and prohibiting its 5,000 members from working on buildings using …
George SutherlandU.S. Supreme CourtJourneymen Stone Cutters AssociationBedford Cut Stone Companylabor-suppressionjudicial-captureanti-unionantitrust
The Supreme Court unanimously reverses its 1922 Coronado decision, ruling that the United Mine Workers local union violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by conspiring to restrain interstate commerce in coal. After the Court’s first ruling favored the union by finding insufficient evidence of …
William Howard TaftU.S. Supreme CourtUnited Mine Workers of AmericaCoronado Coal Companylabor-suppressionjudicial-captureanti-unionantitrust
The Supreme Court rules in United Mine Workers v. Coronado Coal Co. that unincorporated labor unions can be sued in federal court as legal entities, establishing a precedent that exposes unions to potentially devastating civil liability. The case arises from Arkansas’s Sebastian County Union …
William Howard TaftU.S. Supreme CourtUnited Mine Workers of AmericaCoronado Coal Companylabor-suppressionjudicial-captureanti-unionantitrust
The Supreme Court rules 6-3 in Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering that the Clayton Act’s supposed protections for labor organizing do not prevent federal courts from enjoining union boycotts. Justice Mahlon Pitney holds that Section 20 of the Clayton Act, which labor had celebrated in 1914 …
Mahlon PitneyU.S. Supreme CourtInternational Association of MachinistsDuplex Printing Press Companylabor-suppressionjudicial-captureantitrustsupreme-courtclayton-act
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision written by Justice Joseph McKenna, dismissed the government’s antitrust case against U.S. Steel Corporation, the world’s first billion-dollar company created through J.P. Morgan’s 1901 merger. The Court ruled: “We must adhere to the …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice Joseph McKennaJustice DayU.S. Steel CorporationElbert Henry Garyantitrustrule-of-reasoncorporate-powersupreme-courtenforcement-abandonment+1 more
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Clayton Antitrust Act, enhancing previous antitrust legislation and explicitly exempting labor unions from antitrust laws. Alabama Democrat Henry De Lamar Clayton Jr. introduced the legislation in anticipation of the Commission on Industrial Relations report. The …
President Woodrow WilsonHenry De Lamar Clayton Jr.Samuel GompersAmerican Federation of LaborE. Y. Webbprogressive-eraantitrustlabor-organizingregulatory-reform
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Trade Commission Act into law, establishing the FTC as an independent federal agency to prevent ‘unfair methods of competition’ and protect consumers from deceptive business practices. The Act fulfilled Wilson’s ‘New Freedom’ …
Following a 1911 Sherman Antitrust Act lawsuit, the U.S. District Court for Delaware ordered the DuPont Powder Company dissolved and divided into three independent entities: the reconstituted DuPont, Hercules Powder Company, and Atlas Powder Company. DuPont had controlled approximately two-thirds of …
U.S. District Court for DelawareE.I. du Pont de Nemours & CompanyDuPont familyHercules Powder CompanyAtlas Powder Companyantitrustcorporate-powerenforcement-limitationsdupontpowder-trust
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 9-0 unanimous decision applying the new “rule of reason” doctrine, ruled that the American Tobacco Company violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and ordered the tobacco trust dissolved. Founded in 1890 by James Duke, American Tobacco controlled nearly 90% of …
U.S. Supreme CourtChief Justice Edward WhiteAmerican Tobacco CompanyJames Dukeantitrustcorporate-powersupreme-courtmonopolyrule-of-reason+1 more
The Supreme Court’s order to break Standard Oil into 34 separate companies produced a profound paradox: the breakup made John D. Rockefeller vastly richer while ultimately failing to prevent reconsolidation. Shareholders in Standard Oil received proportional stakes in each successor …
John D. RockefellerStandard Oil CompanyU.S. Supreme Courtantitrustcorporate-powerwealth-concentrationmonopolyenforcement-limitations
A federal court sentenced AFL President Samuel Gompers to one year in prison, Vice President John Mitchell to nine months, and Secretary Frank Morrison to six months for contempt of court in the Buck’s Stove and Range Company boycott case. The case exemplified how federal courts had become …
Samuel GompersJohn MitchellFrank MorrisonAmerican Federation of LaborBuck's Stove and Range Company+1 morelabor-suppressionjudicial-captureprogressive-eraantitrustinjunctions
When Theodore Roosevelt left office on March 4, 1909, his administration had filed 44 antitrust lawsuits (18 civil and 26 criminal cases, resulting in 22 convictions and 22 acquittals) against major corporations including Northern Securities, Standard Oil, American Tobacco, the Beef Trust, and Du …
Theodore RooseveltWilliam Howard TaftJ.P. MorganU.S. Department of JusticeInterstate Commerce Commissionantitrustcorporate-powerprogressive-eraregulatory-enforcementpresidential-legacy
On the morning of Saturday, November 2, 1907, during the Panic of 1907 financial crisis, J.P. Morgan convened a meeting at his library proposing that U.S. Steel—which already controlled 60% of the steel market—purchase stock in the insolvent brokerage firm Moore & Schley, which had borrowed …
Theodore RooseveltJ.P. MorganElbert H. GaryHenry Clay FrickU.S. Steel Corporation+2 moreantitrustcorporate-powerfinancial-crisisprogressive-eraregulatory-capture
On July 19, 1907, the Roosevelt administration’s Department of Justice filed a major antitrust petition against the American Tobacco Company after one of its subsidiaries was indicted for price-fixing in the Southern District of New York. The suit charged sixty-five companies and twenty-nine …
Theodore RooseveltU.S. Department of JusticeAmerican Tobacco CompanyJames Buchanan Dukeantitrustcorporate-powerregulatory-enforcementprogressive-eramonopoly
On January 30, 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Swift & Co. v. United States that the Commerce Clause allowed the federal government to regulate monopolies that have a direct effect on interstate commerce, dealing a major blow to the “Beef Trust” cartel. The case followed …
U.S. Supreme CourtSwift & CompanyArmour & CompanyTheodore RooseveltAttorney General Philander Knoxantitrustcorporate-powersupreme-courtregulatory-enforcementprogressive-era
On March 14, 1904, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Northern Securities Company violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and ordered the railroad holding company dissolved. The decision affirmed the April 9, 1903 federal circuit court ruling against the company formed by J.P. Morgan, James J. …
U.S. Supreme CourtTheodore RooseveltJ.P. MorganJames J. HillEdward H. Harriman+1 moreantitrustcorporate-powerregulatory-enforcementsupreme-courtprogressive-era
On February 19, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Elkins Act, which made it a federal misdemeanor for railroads to grant rebates or preferential rates and held both the carrier and the recipient liable. The Act was sponsored by Senator Stephen B. Elkins of West Virginia and introduced in …
Theodore RooseveltSenator Stephen B. ElkinsInterstate Commerce CommissionPennsylvania RailroadRailroad companiesantitrustrailroad-regulationprogressive-eraregulatory-enforcement
On February 14, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Act to Establish the Department of Commerce and Labor, creating the ninth cabinet-level executive department and establishing the Bureau of Corporations as an investigatory agency within it. The Bureau was specifically designed to study …
Theodore RooseveltU.S. CongressGeorge B. CortelyouJames Rudolph GarfieldBureau of Corporationsantitrustregulatory-enforcementprogressive-eracorporate-powerinstitutional-expansion
Ida Tarbell began publishing her groundbreaking 19-part investigative series “The History of the Standard Oil Company” in McClure’s Magazine in November 1902, running through October 1904. Her meticulous research exposed the predatory business practices, illegal rebate schemes, and …
Ida TarbellMcClure's MagazineStandard Oil CompanyJohn D. Rockefellerinvestigative-journalismmuckrakingcorporate-powerantitrustmedia+1 more
In May 1902, while the Northern Securities case proceeded through the courts, Attorney General Philander Knox filed a second major antitrust suit under President Theodore Roosevelt against the “Beef Trust”—a cartel of six major meatpacking companies (Swift, Armour, Morris, Cudahy, …
On February 19, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt’s Department of Justice announced plans to file an antitrust suit against the Northern Securities Company, a railroad holding company formed in November 1901 by J.P. Morgan, James J. Hill, and Edward H. Harriman to control the Great Northern …
Theodore RooseveltAttorney General Philander KnoxJ.P. MorganJames J. HillEdward H. Harriman+1 moreantitrustcorporate-powerregulatory-enforcementprogressive-erarailroad-regulation
On July 2, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed the Sherman Antitrust Act into law after it passed the Senate 51-1 (April 8) and the House 242-0 (June 20), creating America’s first federal anti-monopoly legislation—but the law was deliberately vague, weakly worded, and systematically …
Senator John ShermanPresident Benjamin HarrisonU.S. Congressantitrustregulatory-failurepolitical-theatergilded-agecorporate-power