Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission Extend Public Comment on Request for Information Targeting Serial Acquisitions, Roll-Up Strategies Across U.S. Economy

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are extending the deadline for the public to comment on serial acquisitions and roll-up strategies that harm competition by 60 days. The joint request for information (RFI) seeks to learn more about how corporate actors, including private equity owned businesses, become larger — and potentially dominant — through acquisitions of several smaller firms in the same or related business sectors or industries. The new deadline to submit comments is Sept. 20.

Businesses do not have to report every deal to the federal antitrust agencies, but some non-reportable deals still allow firms to amass significant control over key products, services or labor markets without government scrutiny. These types of transactions can harm competition to the detriment of consumers, workers and innovation across an entire industry or business sector.

The agencies’ RFI seeks to understand more about these deals and strategies, and invites a wide range of stakeholders including consumers, workers, businesses and others to submit their comments. Comments can be submitted via Regulations.gov. Once submitted, comments will be posted to Regulations.gov.