The “F-word”: The Tipline for 9 December 2020

The easiest way to spot that someone is not an antitrust reporter is if they complain about the US competition agencies being inactive. Hours after the Federal Trade Commission lost its bid to block a Philadelphia hospital merger, the agency sued to stop Procter & Gamble’s acquisition of a women’s razor company. The deputy director of the FTC’s bureau of competition and two agency commissioners also spoke at separate events on Tuesday. And that is before we even mention the “F-word”, with several reports suggesting the commission’s lawsuit against Facebook could be expected today.