SAM BOWMAN ON TECH ANTITRUST BILLS

National Journal – ICLE Director of Competition Policy Sam Bowman was quoted by National Journal in an article about new antitrust legislation introduced by leadership of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. You can read the full piece (behind a subscriber firewall) here.

The bill appears designed to stop so-called “killer acquisitions,” where a company buys out an emerging competitor as a way to kill the competing product. But Sam Bowman, the director of competition policy at the center-right International Center for Law and Economics, said the stipulation that even a potential threat is enough to nix a sale means many acquisitions that could boost competition or consumer welfare would be banned.

“What we’re basically saying here is given uncertainty, when there are deals that are more likely than not to be pro-competitive, we will still block them,” said Bowman, who called the bill a de facto ban of any further acquisitions by Google, Facebook, Amazon, or Apple.