September 6, 2023
The Honorable Lina Khan Chairman
Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20580
Dear Chairwoman Khan:
We write today concerned about your recent announcement of a new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) policy on mergers and acquisitions.
We urge you and the Federal Trade Commission to let capitalism work.
As published, your “Thirteen Commandments” represent a paradigm shift away from the consumer welfare standard – which the FTC has used for decades – to one that treats every normal business merger and acquisition in a hostile way. This is a significant change, especially when coupled with the FTC’s collusion with foreign regulators, concocted and embracing of discredited legal theories, as well as ignoring commitments from merging businesses aimed at ensuring a fair playing field. This effectively means that there is no merger which could pass muster. Your misguided policies have been rejected by the courts, and we urge you to heed their message by turning back to the rule of law and decades of precedent.
The result of your “Thirteen Commandments,” if implemented in full, would be an overly interventionist government approach that risks thwarting U.S. innovation. Mergers and acquisitions are a vital strategic move for companies and a valuable exit strategy for innovators. The aggressive anti-merger and acquisition posture of the FTC and Department of Justice is already having negative impacts. Just $12 billion in exit value was realized by startups in 2023 – a decade low. Overall merger activity is also at historic lows, with 2022 seeing a 41% drop from 2021. This trend has continued in 2023, seeing a year-over- year drop of 30% in the second quarter of this year. These changes also risk dampening the current alignment of US companies absent FTC permission. Such an approach would have devastating effects on consumers across the board and in every area of the American economy.
Without the efficiencies of businesses merging, splitting, and merging again, we would lose much of the world-class innovation we have come to expect across the varied industries of the U.S. economy. A permissive approach to competition policy is a central pillar of our economic system, which has enabled our economy to double in size since the mid-1990s. Presidents and FTC commissioners from both parties have enabled this growth and resisted overly restrictive merger oversight rules.
We urge you to retire the “Thirteen Commandments,” as well as your other novel and overreaching actions, and return to the agency’s longstanding consumer welfare standard of oversight.
Sincerely,
Everybody
Ryan Ellis
Center for a Free Economy
Charles Sauer
Market Institute
Grover Norquist
Americans for Tax Reform
Adam Brandon
Freedomworks
Pete Sepp
National Taxpayers Union
David McIntosh
Club For Growth
John Goodman
Goodman Institute
Wayne Brough
R Street Institute
Brent Garder
Americans for Prosperity
Angela McCardle
Libertarian National Commitee
John Tamny
Parkview Institute
Jessica Melugin
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Carrie Lukas
Independent Women’s Forum
Jenny Beth Martin
Tea Party Patriots Action
Steve Moore
Commitee to Unleash Prosperity
Andrew Langer
Institute for Liberty
Phil Kerpen
American Commitment
Karen Kerrigan
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Lisa B. Nelson
ALEC
Jim Martin
60 Plus
Saul Anuzis
American Association of Senior Citizens
Daniel J. Mitchell
Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Ed Martin
Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund
Jim Edwards
Conservative for Property Rights
David Williams
Taxpayer Protection Alliance
Donna Jackson
Project 21
Rick Manning
Americans For Limited Government
George Landrith
Frontiers of Freedom
Mathew Kandrach
Consumer Action for a Strong Economy
Kevin Kearns
US Business and Industry Council
Patrick Brenner
Southwest Public Policy Institute
Tom Hebert
Open Competion Center
James Erwin
Digital Liberty
Bartlet Cleland
Innovation Economy Alliance
Hannah Cox
Based Politics
Joshua Delano
Southeast Texans for Liberty
Larry Ward
Constitutional Rights PAC
James Golden
New Journey PAC
Ralph Benko
Capitalist League
Jeff Cargerman
Inventors Project
Julie Cho
Our America PAC
Tom Norton
America First PAC
George T. Farrell
Blak PAC
C. Preston Noell III
Tradition, Family, Property
Jeff Mazzella
Center for Individual Freedom
Norm Singleton
US Policy
Kent Kaiser
Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity
Casey Given
Young Voices
Bret Healy
MacIver Institute for Public Policy
Tom Giovanetti
Institute for Policy Innovation
Hadley Heath Manning
Independent Women’s Voice
Richard Walker
Benjamin Rush Institute
Julio Rivera
Reactionary Times
Jason Savage
Maine GOP
Chuck Muth
Citizen Outreach
Palmer Schoenig
Family Business Coalition
Gene Mills
Louisianna Family Forum
Donny Ferguson
Americans for a Beter Economy
Chris Widener
Hamilton County Conservatives
Rob Maness
Gator PAC
Lisa Cathie
Maga Black
Terry Neese
National Grassroots Network
Paul Gessing
Rio Grande Foundation
Mario H. Lopez
Hispanic Leadership Fund
Paul Steidler Lexington Institute
Dick Paten
American Business Defense Council
Ryan McGowan
Institute for Legislative Analysis
Edward Longe
James Madison Institute
Art Hartman
Conservative Caucus
Dave Wallace
Restore America’s Mission