David McLaughlin

Apparently, the Justice Department is leaning against approving T-Mobile's proposed takeover of Sprint, even after the companies won the backing of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. The remedies proposed by the wireless carriers on May 20 don’t go far enough to resolve the department’s concerns that the deal risks harming competition, apparently. While the FCC considers whether a merger is in the public interest, the Justice Department considers a different standard: whether a deal hurts competition and would raise prices for consumers.

The 63-page filing by T-Mobile the week fo March 4 was meant to demonstrate that its purchase of rival Sprint is in the public interest. Yet the filing’s appearance -- which prompted US regulators to pause their review -- had some observers wondering if it’s a sign of trouble for the $26.5 billion deal. “At this stage of the game, filing something elaborate like this is not a sign of strength,” said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a media lawyer at Georgetown University Law Center.

The Federal Communications Commission paused its review of T-Mobile's proposed purchase of Sprint, adding to an already protracted battle to win approval to combine the third- and fourth-largest US wireless providers. The move from the Republican-led agency created fresh turmoil for the $26.5 billion merger, which has been under review for more than eight months. “All indications were this would be decided in the next few weeks” but now it appears “they haven’t made the case to the policy makers,” said Gigi Sohn, a former FCC aide and merger opponent.

State antitrust enforcers are expressing deep concerns that T-Mobile's proposed takeover of Sprint could raise prices for consumers, signaling they might seek to thwart the deal. Some state attorneys general who are investigating the $26 billion transaction took the unusual step this week of publicly voicing worries that the combination could harm competition, offering insight for the first time into how they view the tie-up.

Apparently, Facebook has become the target of at least three more state probes into the alleged mishandling of user data, expanding the number of government agencies investigating privacy-violation claims against the company. The state probes are coalescing into two main groups scrutinizing the social-media company’s data-protection practices. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Illinois counterpart, Kwame Raoul, have joined forces with Connecticut’s William Tong, apparently. That group is focused on investigating existing allegations.

T-Mobile is offering a revised rationale for buying Sprint, a turn that critics say is a sign the carrier’s earlier arguments weren’t winning over US officials who can bless or kill the deal. T-Mobile told the Federal Communications Commission in a filing earlier in Nov that it needs the Sprint merger to help it compete more vigorously against giants AT&T and Verizon. In Sept, the company focused on how the tie-up would give it an edge in quickly building an advanced wireless network known as 5G, a goal of the Trump administration.

AT&T chief executive officer Randall Stephenson floated the idea of selling CNN when he met with Justice Department antitrust chief Marakan Delrahim in Nov 2017 in an attempt to head off a government lawsuit challenging the company's proposed takeover of Time Warner, according to a deposition.

Antitrust restrictions placed on Comcast after its takeover of NBCUniversal are due to expire in a few days. But that doesn’t mean the Justice Department is done scrutinizing the company. The department’s antitrust division wrote a letter Aug 14 to Comcast warning that it would continue to monitor developments in how the company handles TV programming and distribution. It also asked for notice by Aug 29 of any changes that the cable giant plans to make when the decree runs out on Sept 1. Comcast’s acquisition of NBC won the approval of regulators more than seven years ago.

Lina Khan, a prominent critic of Amazon’s business practices, is joining the office of Federal Trade Commissioner Rohit Chopra as the agency prepares to increase antitrust scrutiny of technology firms. Khan, the director of legal policy at Washington think tank Open Markets Institute, will work as a legal fellow for the next few months for Chopra, one of two Democratic commissioners at the agency, he said. "Lina is sharp as a tack and works her fingers to the bone," Chopra said.

Apparently, Walt Disney Co. is close to winning US antitrust approval for its $71 billion deal for 21st Century Fox Inc.’s entertainment assets, creating a potentially insurmountable hurdle for a rival bid from Comcast. The Justice Department is set to approve the deal in as soon as two weeks, according to an unnamed source. Disney has agreed to sell some assets to address competition problems stemming from the tie-up.