Tag: Competition

The Federal Trade Commission moved to block Tempur Sealy International, Inc.’s (Tempur Sealy) proposed $4 billion acquisition of Mattress Firm Group Inc. (Mattress Firm).

The Commission issued an administrative complaint and authorized a lawsuit in federal court to block the acquisition, alleging that Tempur Sealy—the world’s largest mattress supplier and manufacturer—will have the ability and incentive to suppress competition and raise prices for mattresses for millions of consumers once it acquires Mattress Firm.

The FTC filed a lawsuit against the three largest prescription drug benefit managers (PBMs)—Caremark Rx, Express Scripts (ESI), and OptumRx—and their affiliated group purchasing organizations (GPOs) for engaging in anticompetitive and unfair rebating practices that have artificially inflated the list price of insulin drugs.

The Federal Trade Commission took action to resolve antitrust concerns related to Chevron Corporation’s acquisition of rival oil producer Hess Corporation by approving a proposed consent order that would prohibit Chevron from appointing Hess CEO John B. Hess to its Board of Directors.

The FTC’s complaint alleges that Mr. Hess communicated publicly and privately with the past and current Secretaries General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and an official from Saudi Arabia. In these communications, Mr. Hess stressed the importance of oil market stability and inventory management and encouraged these officials to take actions on these issues and speak about them at different events, the complaint alleges.

The Federal Trade Commission sued to block the largest proposed supermarket merger in U.S. history—Kroger Company’s $24.6 billion acquisition of the Albertsons Companies, Inc.—alleging that the deal is anticompetitive.