Washington is hosting the largest annual meeting of antitrust lawyers, the American Bar Association's Spring Meeting of the Antitrust Section. At a breakfast session with the Justice Department's antitrust division's deputy assistant attorneys general, about a hundred antitrust lawyers heard that streaming wireless internet, likely to be available in cars in 2012, was just one reason that the DOJ blessed the $13 billion merger between the nation's only two satellite radio companies, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.
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DAAG David Meyer said that competition beyond the traditional two-year window was considered by DOJ lawyers in the decision to OK the deal between XM and Sirius. But he also drove home the fact that the merger-specific efficiencies played an important role in reaching the decision. Moreover, Meyer said, most lawyers aren't spending enough time detailing the cost savings that could arise in the wake of a merger.
But with DOJ approving the vast majority of proposed mergers -- none have faced a court challenge in four years -- it's likely that most antitrust lawyers are aware of at least some arguments the DOJ finds plausible. - Cecile Kohrs Lindell
See Dealwatch: XM-Sirius
