States are increasingly becoming the arbiters of antitrust, stepping into a void left by Trump’s Department of Justice. That’s creating a more complicated world for companies, who are now having to navigate a patchwork of state interests.
Take Live Nation. More than 30 states banded together to win a case that deemed the ticketing giant a monopoly, following what critics called a lightweight settlement by DOJ. When asked if he was comfortable with that outcome, antitrust chief Omeed Assefi didn’t bat an eye: “Absolutely,” he told Liz Hoffman at Semafor World Economy last week. “We have our settlement that we’re very proud of at DOJ, that we think brought really historic relief.”
Corporate America may be less pleased: Many have grown used to being able to tap a stable of Trump advisers to ease the antitrust review process for otherwise contentious mergers.
Devolving those powers to the states, which tend to have more parochial interests (see: deep-red Tennessee’s anger at Live Nation, given how many venues power Nashville’s economy) and deal calculus becomes a lot more complicated.