Ruling June 12 Will Determine The Future Of M&A

An expected federal court ruling on AT&T’s merger with Time Warner, one of the most important antitrust cases in many years, will determine the fate of other blockbuster deals waiting in the wings. These include Disney’s proposed purchase of 21st Century Fox, CVS’s bid for Aetna and the T-Mobile Sprint merger. If ATT Time Warner is blocked dealmakers will have cold feet. If not. a frenzy of mergers and acquisitions is likely to begin. The DOJ effort to halt the deal came as a surprise when it was filed late last year because it would be a vertical merger  between companies that do not produce competing products. At trial, the Justice Department argued that the merger would hurt consumers nonetheless, because the combined entity could raise prices and stifle competition. AT&T and Time Warner argued that the deal was necessary to compete with Netflix and Amazon. Judge Richard J. Leon will reveal his decision late Tuesday.