Judge James Boasberg ruled that Meta does not hold an illegal monopoly in personal social networking, dismissing the FTC’s five-year antitrust case seeking to force divestiture of Instagram and WhatsApp despite extensive evidence of Meta’s “buy or bury” strategy to eliminate …
Judge James BoasbergMetaMark ZuckerbergFederal Trade CommissionLina Khanantitrustmetafacebookftcregulatory-capture+4 more
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google illegally monopolized digital advertising technology markets through systematic anticompetitive conduct including tying arrangements, exclusionary contracts, and manipulation of ad auctions—finding that Google’s control of 91% of publisher …
Judge Leonie BrinkemaDepartment of JusticeGoogleSundar Pichai8 State Attorneys Generalantitrustgooglemonopolyad-techregulatory-capture+3 more
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google illegally maintained monopolies in general search services and search text advertising, marking the most significant antitrust victory against a tech company since the Microsoft case in 1998. The ruling found that Google’s payments exceeding $26 …
Judge Amit MehtaDepartment of JusticeGoogleSundar PichaiAppleantitrustgooglemonopolyregulatory-capturetech-monopoly+3 more
The Department of Justice, joined by 16 state attorneys general, filed a comprehensive antitrust lawsuit against Apple alleging the company illegally monopolizes smartphone markets through a systematic strategy of ecosystem lock-in, developer restrictions, and suppression of “super apps” …
Department of JusticeAppleTim Cook16 State Attorneys Generalantitrustappledojmonopolyregulatory-capture+4 more
The Federal Trade Commission, joined by 17 state attorneys general, filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Amazon alleging the company illegally maintains monopoly power in online retail through systematic anti-competitive practices. The complaint documents Amazon’s …
Federal Trade CommissionAmazonAndy Jassy17 State Attorneys Generalantitrustamazonftcmonopolyregulatory-capture+3 more
The Federal Trade Commission ordered private equity firm JAB Consumer Partners to divest veterinary clinics in four metropolitan areas as a condition of its $1.65 billion acquisition of Ethos Veterinary Health, citing concerns about JAB’s roll-up strategy creating local monopolies in specialty …
Federal Trade CommissionJAB Consumer PartnersJAB Holding CompanyNational Veterinary AssociatesEthos Veterinary Health+1 moreantitrustconsolidationprivate-equityveterinaryhealthcare+4 more
AbbVie reached settlement agreements with eight biosimilar manufacturers that allowed immediate biosimilar competition in Europe starting October 16, 2018, but delayed all US market entry until 2023—seven years after Humira’s original patent expired in December 2016. The settlements ended …
AbbVieAmgenSamsung BioepisMylanBoehringer Ingelheim+3 morepharmaceutical-industrypatent-abusedrug-pricinghealthcareevergreening+2 more
On May 4, 2018, Axon Enterprise acquired VieVu LLC, its primary competitor in the police body camera industry, for $7.1 million ($4.6 million cash and $2.5 million in stock) plus performance-based milestone payments of 141,000 additional shares. The acquisition eliminated meaningful competition in …
AxonVieVuSafariland GroupNYPDMiami-Dade Police+1 moreaxonvievubody-camerasmonopolysurveillance+2 more
The Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisers publishes landmark research ‘Labor Market Monopsony: Trends, Consequences, and Policy Responses’ documenting how employer market power (monopsony) and product market concentration (monopoly) systematically suppress American …
Council of Economic AdvisersWorkersDominant firmsmonopsonymonopolywage-suppressionmarket-powerwealth-extraction+1 more
In 2016, a whistleblower who had worked for 12 years at the American Kidney Fund filed a lawsuit alleging that dialysis giants DaVita and Fresenius Medical Care—which together control over 80 percent of the $24.7 billion U.S. dialysis market—operated a years-long kickback scheme where they donated …
DaVitaFresenius Medical CareAmerican Kidney FundDepartment of JusticeFederal Trade Commissionhealthcaredialysissystematic-corruptionmonopolykickbacks+3 more
Questcor Pharmaceuticals implemented an overnight price increase for H.P. Acthar Gel from $1,600 to $23,000 per vial on August 27, 2007, launching a decade-long price gouging scheme that would eventually raise the drug’s price by 97,000% from its 2001 level. Questcor had acquired Acthar—a …
Questcor PharmaceuticalsMallinckrodtFederal Trade CommissionHumanaCongress+1 morepharmaceutical-industrydrug-pricinghealthcarecorporate-fraudbribery+2 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
The average price of insulin in the United States began a decade-long tripling from $231 per patient annually in 2002 to $762 in 2013, according to congressional hearing data—with some patients paying up to $900 per month for insulin products that cost $4.34 per milliliter in 2002 but reached $12.92 …
Eli LillyNovo NordiskSanofiCongressional Diabetes CaucusBig Pharmapharmaceutical-industrydrug-pricinghealthcaremonopolyinsulin-crisis+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
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
The Scripps-McRae League is renamed Scripps-Howard Newspapers in early November 1922, recognizing company executive Roy W. Howard as co-director and consolidating control of the nation’s second-largest newspaper chain after William Randolph Hearst’s empire. Founder E.W. Scripps …
E.W. ScrippsRoy W. HowardRobert ScrippsScripps-Howard Newspapersmedia-consolidationnewspaper-chainsscrippsmonopoly
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
William Randolph Hearst’s media empire reaches its peak expansion in the 1920s, controlling 28 major newspapers and 18 magazines that reach one in every four Americans (20 million readers by mid-1930s), representing the largest newspaper chain consolidation in American history and …
William Randolph HearstHearst Communicationsmedia-consolidationnewspaper-chainsyellow-journalismmonopolyhearst+1 more
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
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 February 25, 1901, J.P. Morgan incorporated the United States Steel Corporation with an authorized capitalization of $1.4 billion, creating the first billion-dollar corporation in history by purchasing Andrew Carnegie’s steel empire for approximately $480 million and consolidating it with …
On July 1, 1892, Andrew Carnegie consolidated his various steel operations into the Carnegie Steel Company, creating the largest and most profitable steel company in the world through complete vertical integration of the entire steel production chain. The company headquarters were located in the …
Andrew CarnegieHenry Clay FrickCarnegie Steel Companycorporate-powersteel-industryvertical-integrationgilded-agemonopoly
On January 2, 1882, John D. Rockefeller and 40 other investors signed the Standard Oil Trust Agreement, creating the first modern corporate monopoly structure that controlled 90% of American oil refining. The trust pooled securities from 40 companies under nine trustees—John and William Rockefeller, …
John D. RockefellerStandard Oil CompanyHenry FlaglerSamuel C. T. DoddWilliam Rockefellercorporate-powermonopolytrust-formationgilded-ageinstitutional-capture
Between February 17 and March 28, 1872, in what became known as the ‘Cleveland Massacre,’ John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil acquired 22 of the 26 competing oil refineries in Cleveland, Ohio—a brutal six-week consolidation campaign that established the template for monopolistic …
John D. RockefellerStandard Oil CompanyHenry FlaglerSouth Improvement Companycorporate-powermonopolygilded-agepredatory-pricingmarket-manipulation
John D. Rockefeller incorporated the Standard Oil Company in Ohio with $1 million in capital, transforming an 1863 partnership into what would become America’s most powerful monopoly. The company was formed with Rockefeller, his brother William, Henry Flagler, Samuel Andrews, and other …
John D. RockefellerStandard Oil CompanyHenry FlaglerSamuel AndrewsWilliam Rockefellercorporate-powermonopolygilded-ageoil-industryinstitutional-capture
In 1867, Cornelius Vanderbilt gained control of the New York Central Railroad after driving down its stock price, then combined it with his New York and Harlem Railroad and Hudson River Railroad to create one of the first giant railroad consolidations in American history. Vanderbilt had entered the …
Cornelius VanderbiltNew York Central RailroadHudson River RailroadHarlem Railroadrailroad-consolidationcorporate-powergilded-agemonopolyinfrastructure-capture