Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan speaks throughout The New York Times annual DealBook Summit in New York City on Nov. 29, 2023.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan defended her track record in court docket when it comes to blocking mergers, saying she believes the company ought to take huge swings and she’s “fairly happy” with the work it has carried out to date underneath her tenure, which began in June 2021.
Speaking at The New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday, Khan stated that every time the FTC brings a case, “you need to win it,” however that every time there is a loss, the company will “strive to work out what went unsuitable.”
The FTC has had some high-profile losses throughout Khan’s tenure, together with a failed attempt to block Facebook mum or dad Meta from shopping for digital actuality firm Within Unlimited. It additionally lost a fight to cease Microsoft‘s $69 billion acquisition of gaming large Activision Blizzard, although the company remains to be interesting the court docket ruling.
Under her management, Khan stated the FTC has introduced 11 circumstances towards mergers, and in 5 situations, the businesses deserted their plans after the company filed go well with. There have been 14 offers that have been dropped through the FTC’s investigation, she added.
“Big image, in fact the 2 circumstances that we misplaced we’d’ve wished to win, however we’re fairly happy general with our efforts,” Khan stated on stage.
Khan is in the course of what could possibly be a career-defining antitrust case. In September, the FTC and 17 states sued Amazon, accusing the retail giant of wielding its “monopoly energy” to artificially rise costs, degrade high quality for customers and stifle competitors. The lawsuit was lengthy anticipated, as Khan rose to prominence for her 2017 Yale Law Journal article, “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox.”
Khan argued within the piece that the prevailing antitrust framework on the time, which targeted totally on monopolies’ hurt to customers, failed to seize the methods tech giants corresponding to Amazon are in a position to dominate within the digital world even whereas providing decrease costs and extra choice to customers.
The company has additionally taken goal at Amazon’s Prime service, alleging it tricked customers into signing up for this system and deliberately sophisticated the cancellation course of. Amazon has disputed each of the FTC’s lawsuits, calling them “unsuitable on the info and the legislation.”
In the interview Wednesday, Khan stated she doesn’t subscribe to Prime, which prices $139 a yr and contains perks corresponding to free delivery, entry to streaming content material and reductions on Whole Foods groceries.
Asked why she hasn’t subscribed to Prime, Khan replied, “I simply have not.”
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