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Updated, with additional comment: Setting up a battle over the independence of a major federal agency, Donald Trump fired the two Democrats who sit on the Federal Trade Commission.

Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya said that they were “illegally fired” from their roles. Traditionally, the commission has been split 3-2 favoring whichever party retains the White House. No more than three commissioners can be of the same political party.

Since Trump took office, the commission has been split 2-2, with Trump’s nominee to fill the third GOP slot, Mark Meador, yet to be confirmed by the Senate. Their firings leave the commission with a Republican majority, something that would clear the way for major mergers to get the green light. The agency enforces consumer protection and competition laws.

On a press call, Slaughter and Bedoya said that they plan to challenge their dismissals in court.

A White House spokesperson...

Screen International’s has selected some of the talking points for the international and US film sectors in 2025.

See here for our UK industry talking points.

What will Donald Trump’s second term mean for M&As?

The years ahead could be a boom period for mergers and acquisitions. The prevailing view is Trump’s incoming administration will be a friend to big business and support deregulation. The president-elect has appointed a Republican, Andrew Ferguson, to chair the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which oversees antitrust and consumer protection.

There could be a flurry of media deals consolidating streaming platforms,...

In an unusual move, the Federal Trade Commission has released a statement announcing that it has referred a complaint against Snapchat owner Snap Inc. to the Department of Justice.

The Commission was vague on the details, but said that it ” pertains to the company’s deployment of an artificial intelligence powered chatbot, My AI, in its Snapchat application and the allegedly resulting risks and harms to young users of the application.”

My AI uses OpenAI tech to let Snapchat users chat and ask questions within the Snapchat app. It launched in 2023, and the company says that millions of its users use the feature.

A spokesperson for Snap tells The Hollywood Reporter that the complaint “is based on inaccuracies, and lacks concrete evidence. It also fails to identify any tangible harm and is subject to serious First Amendment concerns.”

DOJ referrals are not typically made public until charges are filed, and...

Andrew Ferguson, a Republican on the Federal Trade Commission, has been named as the agency’s chair.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday appointed Ferguson as he vowed to continue contesting “Big Tech censorship” and “protecting Freedom of Speech.”

Ferguson will be the “most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History,” Trump wrote in a statement issued posted on Truth Social.

The nomination comes after Trump’s selection of Gail Slater, a veteran tech and media policy adviser who’s had stints at Fox Corp. and Roku, to the top antitrust post at the Justice Department. That move was also motivated to curb the reach of “Big Tech,” which has “run wild for years” and is “stifling competition in our most innovative sector,” Trump said.

On the FTC, which he was appointed to in April, Ferguson has dissented from an agency initiative to ban non-compete clauses in...

Donald Trump on Tuesday appointed Andrew Ferguson to serve as the next chair of the Federal Trade Commission, which has a major say over mergers and acquisitions.

The president-elect signaled that Ferguson would take on big tech, as his pick has previously suggested that major platforms may be “cartels” that have suppressed conservative voices and should even be broken up.

“Andrew has a proven record of standing up to Big Tech censorship, and protecting Freedom of Speech in our Great Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social this afternoon.

Ferguson has been a commissioner on the FTC since April, so he does not have to be confirmed in the Senate.

He previously served as solicitor general in Virginia, and was a litigator for antitrust at several D.C. law firms.

“Andrew will be the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History,” Trump wrote.

Trump also nominated Mark Meador,...

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan on Friday, requesting that the consumer protection agency more consistently enforce the nearly decade-old legislation that was passed to try and stop scalpers from using bots to corner the market on concert tickets.

The Better Online Tickets Sales Act (Or Bots Act) was signed into law at the end of 2016, making it illegal to use bots to circumvent security measures and lines to purchase mass amounts of concert tickets before actual fans could get their hands on them.

Gail Slater, an aide to Jd Vance and former staff attorney at the Federal Trade Commission and former Fox Corp. executive, has been nominated to lead the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division in Donald Trump’s upcoming term.

In announcing the choice of Slater, Trump signaled that the department would continue to pursue cases against major tech giants. Some of the cases, like a lawsuit against Google over its search dominance, were started in his first term and continued under President Joe Biden’s antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter.

“Big Tech has run wild for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using its market power to crack down on the rights of so many Americans, as well as those of Little Tech!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I was proud to fight these abuses in my First Term, and our Department of Justice’s...

On Nov. 7, a day after Donald Trump’s presidential victory, Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav delivered a not-so-subtle message to Wall Street: It’s open season on dealmaking, and Hollywood is better off for it.

Discussing the narrowing field of players in a media and entertainment environment that’s in a “generational disruption,” the CEO said that the upcoming administration may “offer a pace of change and an opportunity for consolidation that may be quite different” and “provide a real positive and accelerated impact on this industry that’s needed.”

The sentiment was echoed by Perry Sook, chief executive of TV giant Nexstar who noted that he intends to jump on deals: “We believe that there is value to be created for our shareholders through further consolidation.”

And also by Sinclair chief executive Chris Ripley. “It does feel like a cloud over the industry is lifting here, and we...

Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav begged for relief from regulators last summer, saying “We just need an opportunity for deregulation, so companies can consolidate and do what we need to do to be even better.” He was expressing the frustration in corner offices across industries.

As the presidential election loomed, Zaslav, in those comments at the Sun Valley media conference in July, didn’t indicate a preference for Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, just a world where M&a is easier.

Fast forward. The election is here, and it is still not obvious which of the two candidates will look more kindly on dealmaking, especially in media.

“Generally, Democrats will be more restrictive on deals. But I think there are industry differentials,” says a longtime Wall Streeter who follows entertainment.

“We’re not sure, because it is obvious that a Harris administration might be more focused on the consumer and [wary of] consolidation,...

The trade group representing the U.S.’s largest cable operators and programmers is among three associations that sued the FTC, seeking to block the agency’s newly adopted “click-to-cancel” rule — which is designed to let consumers more easily cut the cord on subscriptions.

Ncta – The Internet & Television Association, joined by the Electronic Security Association, representing companies in the electronic life safety and security industry, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau, filed the lawsuit Oct. 22 in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The suit seeks an order vacating the FTC’s click-to-cancel rule.

The groups argue that the FTC’s order issuing the click-to-cancel final rule “is arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 701, et seq.” and that it is “unsupported by substantial evidence,” according to the complaint. The lawsuit also asserts the FTC acted beyond its statutory authority, in violation of the U.

The Federal Trade Commission has set its final “click-to-cancel” rule, which will require sellers to make it as easy for consumers to cancel their subscriptions — including streaming services and pay TV — as it was to sign up.

The rule, approved in a 3-2 vote, will apply to almost all “negative option” programs in any media. That’s where consumers are automatically charged for goods and services unless they actively decline them.

These generally fall into four categories: automatic renewals, free trial conversion offers, pre-notification plans and continuity plans.

“Too often, businesses make people jump through endless hoops just to cancel a subscription,” FTC chair Lina Khan said in a statement. “The FTC’s rule will end these tricks and traps, saving Americans time and money. Nobody should be stuck paying for a service they no longer want.”

Here’s everything you need to know:

What will Click-to-Cancel do?

Click-to-cancel will...

Jon Stewart went on Conan O’Brien’s podcast and talked about how tech-giant streamers like Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video are changing Hollywood.

“There was this legacy business, and you’re seeing it change now as Silicon Valley comes in,” Stewart said. “The ethos of legacy entertainment is: we’ve created this incredibly eccentric business, where you need an agent and a manager and a lawyer, and they’re going to take about 60% of what you make, but without them there’s nothing you can do! And you join the studio, and the studio will give you a deal, and you’ll sit in your room. It’s the most inefficient way. Silicon Valley walked in like in the way Elon Musk walked into Twitter and went, ‘How many people work here? 10,000? Make it two.'”

Stewart said that companies like Apple and Amazon have disrupted the legacy system...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking action to prohibit “deceptive advertising.” On Wednesday, the organization announced that fake reviews, purchased followers, and suppression of reviews will be prohibited, and open to civic penalties.

The new rule — which was voted in favor of 5-0 — will disallow fake reviews and false reviews from folks with no experience with a business, and will prohibit businesses from selling reviews and companies from buying them.

“Fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors,...

As Democrats scrambled to shore up support for Kamala Harris, two megadonors openly challenged one of the core tenets of Joe Biden’s agenda, to rein in corporate power, in a move that could prove to be bitterly divisive within the party if Donald Trump is defeated in November.

On July 25, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman went on CNN to call for the vice president, if she is elected, to oust Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, who he said is operating “outside the scope” of her job. “Antitrust is fine,” said Hoffman, who has donated $7 million to a Democratic super Pac and sits on the board of Microsoft, a tech giant whose acquisition of Activision was challenged by the FTC. “Waging war is not.”

A day later, Iac media mogul and former Ticketmaster chair Barry Diller offered another glimpse into corporate America’s perspective on merger regulation under Khan. Asked...

Dan Gregor, a writer and producer on Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers and How I Met Your Mother, started his career roughly 20 years ago, during an era when Hollywood looked vastly different.

Back then, it was normal for him to develop a pitch for a TV show and take it to multiple networks. With a handful of offers on the table, he says he was able to negotiate the best deal possible. Two decades and several roll-ups later, that’s no longer the case.

“You used to have a marketplace to sell your concept to,” Gregor explains. “You’d often get multiple offers, and you’d have a bidding war. You could actually negotiate up all of your rates, salaries and others rights based on competition between the studios and buyers. Now that the studios and networks are functionally the same, it’s almost always a take it or leave it offer.

A raging policy debate in Washington is forcing Hollywood to curb its enthusiasm for mergers and acquisitions — for now.

Federal regulators and some legal scholars are moving to radically overhaul how the nation enforces antitrust laws. That’s making it much harder for dealmakers and corporate titans to pursue M&a activity. The regulatory mood in Washington, where transactions of any size must be approved by the Justice Department and other agencies, has become downright hostile to large-scale deals.

For Hollywood, the timing is terrible. Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Comcast and NBCUniversal are conceiving potential new combinations with traditional or digital giants, but they’re hemmed in by the chilly atmosphere in D.C. The new breed of regulators are concerned that digital giants à la Google, Facebook and Amazon have been allowed to become too big and too powerful.

The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have issued much...

Employers have been banned from adopting or enforcing clauses restricting workers’ ability to move to competitors, marking a pivotal change to the employment landscape that could improve working conditions in Hollywood.

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday voted 3-to-2 to ban noncompetes, which typically prevent workers from taking a new job at a rival company or starting a new business in the same field for a certain amount of time after they leave a company. On top of possibly raising pay for workers across the board by allowing them to freely solicit offers from competitors, the move could also complicate hiring in an industry rife with firms concerned about protecting confidential information and trade secrets.

“The new FTC rule shines a klieg light on how best to retain quality employees in the industry — noncompetes are on their way out, so companies need a better solution,” says Anthony Oncidi, co-head of...

A sweeping new Federal Trade Commission rule will prohibit companies nation from including non-compete agreements in contracts with employees.

The new rule also will make existing non-compete clauses unenforceable for all but senior executives, and companies also would be prohibiting from entering into new clauses even with those at the upper end of the workforce.

The new rule is expected to have a significant impact on the entertainment and media sector, where non-compete clauses are widespread, albeit they already have been unenforceable in California.

“Workers ought to have the right to choose who they want to work for,” President Joe Biden said in a statement after the FTC vote today passing the ban. Commissioners voted along party lines for the new rule.

“Noncompete clauses keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism, including from the more than 8,500 new startups that would be created a year once noncompetes are banned,...

We now know at least one problem that “The Problem with Jon Stewart” ran into.

Stewart, hosting “The Daily Show” on Monday (as he now does), had FTC Chair Lina Khan as his guest. It was a conversation he says he wanted to have during his days as an Apple TV+ host. It needed to wait for Comedy Central.

“I wanted to have you on a podcast and Apple asked us not to do it,” Stewart told Khan. “They literally said, ‘Please don’t talk to her.'”

Feels a bit more than “creative differences.”

“I think it just shows one of the dangers of what happens when you concentrate so much power and so much decision making in a small number of companies,” Khan responded to Stewart.

Stewart’s inference was that Apple, which he says “has bought 30 AI models,” did not want him to have an AI conversation...

Jon Stewart made headlines in February when he appeared on “CBS Mornings” ahead of his return to hosting Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and said that Apple canceled his previous talk show, “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” because “they didn’t want me to say things that might get me in trouble.” On the April 1 episode of “The Daily Show,” Stewart went into greater detail about Apple’s concerns over the direction of his now-axed talk show and corresponding podcast.

Stewart was interviewing Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan on “The Daily Show” and told her that he once pitched to have her as a guest on “The Problem” podcast. Considering Khan’s work at the FTC targets tech giants’ monopolistic practices, Apple allegedly did not want Stewart bringing her on the program to presumably talk about such topics.

“I wanted to have you on a podcast and Apple...

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan has some powerful enemies.

While discussing Khan’s work taking on tech monopolies with Jon Stewart on Monday night’s Daily Show, Stewart shared that he’d originally planned to interview the FTC chair on the podcast for his Apple TV+ series The Problem With Jon Stewart–until his bosses there asked him not to.

Nominated by President Biden to the FTC in 2021 when she was just 31 years old, Khan is best known for her work in antitrust and competition law. Under her leadership, the Commission has launched several high-profile lawsuits against tech giants Microsoft, Meta and Amazon.

“I wanted to have you on a podcast and Apple asked us not to do it,” Stewart told Khan Monday.

“They literally said, ‘Please don’t talk to her,’” he continued. “Like, what is that sensitivity? Why are they so afraid to even have these conversations out in the public sphere?...

Jon Stewart has revealed that Apple asked him not to talk to the Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan on his former Apple TV+ show and podcast, The Problem With Jon Stewart.

Khan was a guest on Monday’s episode of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, and Stewart made the admission during the interview. When the discussion moved on to artificial intelligence, Stewart told Khan that he had wanted to talk to her on The Problem.

“I’ve got to tell you, I wanted to have you on a podcast and Apple asked us not to do it, to have you. They literally said, ‘Please don’t talk to her,'” Stewart said. “I don’t think they cared for you,” he then joked.

Khan, who became chair of the FTC in 2021, has made a name for herself for being an outspoken critic of the business practices of the likes of Amazon,...

Last month, the U.S. Justice Department and more than a dozen state attorneys general sued Apple, claiming that the tech giant has an illegal monopoly over the smartphone market and warning that Apple’s monopoly on smartphones could extend to other areas of the economy, including entertainment.

Tonight on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart offered a view into his own tussle with Apple related to his Apple TV+ comedy show The Problem With Jon Stewart.

“I wanted to have you on a podcast and Apple asked us not to do it,” the Daily Show host said to his guest, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, referencing the podcast that was an extension of the Apple show, which the tech giant canceled in October.

“They literally said, ‘Please don’t talk to her,'” Stewart told Khan.

The FTC chair has been outspoken about her concerns over what she sees...

It’s another Jon Stewart Monday at the Daily Show, with the host set to welcome his first goverment official since returning to the Comedy Central series in February.

Stewart’s guest tonight will be Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission.

Nominated by President Biden to the FTC when she was just 31 years old, Khan is best known for her work in antitrust and competition law.

Under her leadership, the Commission has pushed to ban non-compete agreements, filed lawsuits against health care companies engaging in anti-competitive practices, and launched several high-profile lawsuits against tech giants Microsoft, Meta and Amazon.

The case against Amazon, which 17 states have joined the FTC in bringing, focuses on the tech giant’s alleged use of unfair tactics to ensure it always offers the lowest prices on the internet. If successful, could mean huge changes for the Amazon, including a possible breakup of the internet goliath.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the owner of X (formerly Twitter), says that the current advertiser boycott could “kill the company.”

“What this advertising boycott is going to do is, it is going to kill the company,” Musk said Wednesday. “And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company.”

Musk was interviewed by Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday afternoon at the New York Times Dealbook Summit, capping off a day of speakers that included Vice President Kamala Harris, FTC chair Lina Khan, Disney CEO Bob Iger, and PGA commissioner Jay Monahan.

Musk also responded to Iger, who explained his company’s decision to pull advertising from the platform earlier.

“Don’t advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself,” Musk said. “Go fuck yourself, is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience.

San Francisco, Sep 6 (Ians) The Lina Khan-led Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US is likely to file its massive lawsuit against Amazon later this month, as the e-commerce giant reportedly failed to offer concessions to the FTC in pursuit of a settlement over antitrust claims.

The lawsuit will touch upon various aspects of Amazon’s business, while also suggesting “structural remedies” that could potentially break up the tech giant, reports the Wall Street Journal, citing sources.

“E-commerce giant’s lawyers offered no concessions in talks with agency officials last month,” the report mentioned.

The meeting was “a chance for the technology giant to make its case to the regulator to head off a possible lawsuit that officials have been working on for many months”.

The commission has been examining Amazon practices, including whether it favours its own products over competitors’ on its platforms and how it treats outside sellers on Amazon.com.

With sports now a “golden goose” begetting streaming progress for Apple, it would be a “no-brainer” for the tech giant to partner with or even fully acquire ESPN.

That’s the latest take from Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives, a longtime Apple bull, who laid out the case to clients in a research note Wednesday.

Apple TV+ has about 50 million subscribers today, Ives estimates. The tech company has never divulged numbers for the nearly 4-year-old service, whose results are reflected in the broader Services line in its financial statements. In the quarter ending June 30, Apple topped 1 billion paid subscriptions to all services, including iCloud, Apple Music, Apple TV+ and others, with revenue in the segment gaining 8% over the prior-year period to reach $21.2 billion.

After a sluggish start in its first year, Apple TV+ found its stride with the Emmy-winning Ted Lasso and Oscar-winning Coda and then began to supplement its...

Laura Blum-Smith, the Writers Guild of America West’s director of research and public policy, considers the strike a result of a tsunami of Hollywood mergers that has handed studios and streamers the power to exploit workers.

“Harmful mergers and attempts to monopolize markets are a recurring theme in the history of media and entertainment, and they are a key part of what led 11,500 writers to go on strike more than 100 days ago against their employers,” Blum-Smith said on Thursday at an event with the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice over new merger guidelines unveiled in July.

She pointed to Disney, Amazon and Netflix as companies that “gained power through anticompetitive consolidation and vertical integration,” allowing them to impose “more and more precarious working conditions, increasingly short term employment and lower pay for writers and other workers across the industry.” But she sees revisions to the merger guidelines...

In the wake of the Taylor Swift “Eras Tour” ticketing debacle, two senators have sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission expressing concern over how the agency has been enforcing a 2016 law meant to keep bots from scooping up tickets.

The letter, shared by Billboard, was addressed to FTC chair Lina Khan and sent by Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal and Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn (who hasn’t always had the nicest things to say about Swift, who endorsed her opponent in 2018). The pair highlighted not only the chaotic Swift sale,...

San Francisco, Nov 21 (Ians) The US government is now looking into whether Elon Musk’s foreign investment partners have access to users’ private data on the micro-blogging platform, as he plans another round of layoffs.

Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that the government is asking for more details about Musk’s private agreements with global investors who hold stakes in the company.

These investors include Saudi Arabia’s Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud and the Qatar Investment Authority.

Musk’s business dealings in both Ukraine and China have already drawn concerns among the government ranks.

The government is now “looking into whether Musk’s foreign investment partners have access to users’ private data on the platform”.

U.S. President Joe Biden has expressed concerns that Musk’s “relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at.”

Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat-Connecticut) also called for the Committee on Foreign Investment...

Washington, Sep 16 (Ians) The Lina Khan-led Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US has announced a new policy to tame gig economy companies and platforms in order to protect all kinds of delivery partners/online cab drivers from unfair contracts, pay and hours.

The FTC approved a new policy by a 3-2 vote, saying that “protecting these workers from unfair, deceptive, and anticompetitive practices is a priority, and the Federal Trade Commission will use its full authority to do so”.

It will continue to “capitalise on its broad jurisdiction and interdisciplinary expertise to combat unlawful practices that harm gig workers”.

Over the last two years, groups like the Gig Workers Collective are addressing the concerns of delivery partners for companies like DoorDash and Instacart.

But the groups have struggled to make significant industry changes without the legal protections of a conventional union, reports The Verge.

The rapid growth of...

Washington/New Delhi, July 18 (Ians) After India, the US lawmakers have now asked the Lina Khan-led Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address abusive and deceptive data practices by hundreds of companies providing Virtual Private Network (Vpn) services for individuals. A Vpn is an online service that purports to give users more security when connecting to […]...

Click here to read the full article.

After reaching a labor neutrality agreement with Microsoft earlier in June, the Communications Workers of America has sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission supporting the tech giant’s 68.7 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.

The president of the labor union, which in late May successfully established Activision Blizzard’s first certified union at subsidiary Raven Software, sent a letter to FTC leaders including chair Lina Khan on Thursday where he stated, “We now support approval of the transaction before you because Microsoft has entered an agreement with Cwa to ensure the workers of Activision Blizzard have a clear path to collective bargaining.” Cwa president Chris Shelton added, “Microsoft’s binding commitments will give employees a seat at the table and ensure that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard benefits the company’s workers and the broader video game labor market.

The Senate confirmed Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission, giving Democrats a working majority at the agency as it sets its sights on reining in the tech industry and giving proposed mergers and acquisitions much greater scrutiny.

Bedoya was confirmed on a 51-50 party line vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie.

The FTC under chair Lina Khan did not challenge Amazon’s acquisition of MGM before the two companies closed their transaction. With the new Democratic majority, there has been some pressure on the FTC by labor and public interest groups to move to unwind the transaction or place restrictions on it.

Once Bedoya is sworn in, he will join Khan and Rebecca Slaughter as the three Democrats on the commission.

“With the FTC at full membership, this important agency will be empowered to drive full steam ahead in cracking down on bad actor companies who are using anticompetitive practices,...

The Senate narrowly advanced the nomination of Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission, as Democrats seek to end a deadlock on the commission and advance an agenda likely to take a harder line on corporation consolidation and tech giants.

The vote on Wednesday was 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking a tie. The Senate Commerce Committee split 14-14 earlier this month on the nomination, meaning that Democrats needed to use a more complicated legislative maneuver to move it forward via what is called a discharge petition. Bedoya now faces additional Senate votes before confirmation, but that can happen if all members of the Democratic caucus stick together.

The FTC under chair Lina Khan did not challenge Amazon’s acquisition of MGM before the two companies closed the transaction, disappointing some union and public interest groups that had urged the agency to take a harder line. But any effort...

The FTC is set to decide over the next few weeks whether to bring an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon’s planned merger with MGM. The Information reported this evening that the U.S. regulator is exploring actions that include hiring expert witnesses.

The $8.45 billion deal was announced last May, around the same time as WarnerMedia-Discovery. The latter merger has the DOJ’s blessing and is on track to close early in the second quarter. But regulators put Amazon on notice last July that they were investigating its acquisition of the storied studio.

Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service is free for subscribers of Amazon Prime, the world’s biggest customer loyalty program and the heart of Amazon’s commerce business. MGM’s library, with more than 4,000 films including the James Bond and Rocky franchises, and 17,000 TV shows, would significantly enhance Prime Video. Amazon Studios is behind The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel...

San Francisco, Feb 2 (Ians) The US competition watchdog will review Microsoft’s proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Call of Duty (CoD) maker gaming company Activision Blizzard, the media reported. Lina Khan-led Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will scrutinise whether Satya Nadella-run tech giant’s move to expand its video game business will “substantially lessen competition”, The Wall […]...

Thirty-four groups from the Writers Guild of America West to Public Citizen to Demand Progress have appealed to the Federal Trade Commission to block Amazon’s proposed acquisition of MGM, which they say reflects the e-commerce giant’s growing dominance.

The $8.45 billion deal announced in May – which hands Amazon MGM’s content library including the James Bond and Rocky franchises — “is not simply a one-off deal for streaming content; it is the latest move in Amazon’s overarching strategy to create numerous interconnected points of dominance over businesses and consumers,” said the letter sent Tuesday to the FTC Chair Lina Khan. Read it here.

Earlier this month, a coalition of labor unions representing nearly four million workers also lobbied the Commission to block the deal, citing harmful vertical integration in the film business.

The merger is designed to enhance Amazon Prime Video as a draw for the Amazon Prime loyalty program,...

Amazon saw second-quarter net sales of $113 billion, up 27% but below expectations, dinging the shares, which fell more than 7% in late trading.

Consumers still shopped a lot on Amazon but growth was tempered as the world reopened — compared with the year-ago quarter when the global pandemic was at its height.

Net profit came in at a strong $7.8 billion, or $15.12 a share — up from $5.2 billion or $10.30.

Subscriptions services, which includes annual and monthly fees associated with Amazon Prime memberships, as well as digital video, audiobook, digital music, e-book, and other non-aws subscription services, grew revenue by 32% to $7.9 billion. Prime, which offers members unlimited fast delivery and access to Amazon Prime streaming, is now available in 22 countries with the latest addition of Portugal. CFO Brian Olsavsky said on a call with analysts that video “is good for the Prime program” and Amazon is investing in rolling out the Prime-member benefit across international markets.

Joe Biden has nominated attorney Jonathan Kanter, a prominent critic of Google and big tech, as the next antitrust chief in the Justice Department.

Kanter has been “a leading advocate and expert in the effort to promote strong and meaningful antitrust enforcement and competition policy,” the White House said in a statement announcing the nomination.

Kanter is partner at Kanter Law Group, a boutique antitrust firm, where he has represented clients raising antitrust concerns about Google. He’s represented companies including News Corp. and Microsoft, as well as smaller firms.

Kanter was co-chair of the antitrust practice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison, but left that practice last fall, reportedly because his clients would have posed a conflict with larger companies represented by the firm. He also served as an attorney for the Federal Trade Commission’s bureau of competition. He earned his law degree from Washington University in St.

ViacomCBS Chair Shari Redstone was doing the rounds at Sun Valley but contrary to reports, she did not have a meeting with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts at the Allen & Co. mogul mountain retreat, according to a person familiar with the situation. The Philly-based conglom has been the subject of constant deal speculation since two big mergers have promised to redraw the entertainment landscape if and when they close.

Within a week in May, AT&T’s WarneMedia announced plans to combine with Discovery and Amazon to buy MGM – the latter deal currently being scrutinized at an FTC led by antitrust reform champion Lina Khan. Both agreements were geared towards streaming content in an increasingly competitive market. Platforms multiplied and subscribers surged in 2020 during the worst of Covid. But investors got jittery when Netflix and Disney added fewer subscribers in the March quarter, further fueling talk of a content arms race.

Now,...

Amazon’s proposed merger with MGM is facing a lengthier probe before the Federal Trade Commission, as lawmakers call for careful scrutiny of the $8.5 billion deal.

The Information, citing unnamed sources, reported on the FTC investigation and that its review could take six months or more. Reuters also confirmed the extended probe.

The FTC’s new chairwoman, Lina Khan, has been a critic of Amazon, authoring an article for the Yale Law Journal that called for looking beyond consumer welfare when looking at mergers. :As Amazon continues both to deepen its existing control over key infrastructure and to reach into new lines of business, its dominance demands the same scrutiny,” she wrote. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-ma) recently sent a letter to Khan, calling on her to review the Amazon-mgm transaction broadly and determine “whether this vertical acquisition is truly an entertainment strategy or merely another step towards unfettered monopolization.”

The...