The District Court’s decision finding the Bazaarvoice/PowerReviews acquisition unlawful demonstrates that agencies and courts will continue to apply traditional methods of merger analysis based on market definition and market concentration even when customers have not opposed the transaction and the overlapping revenues involved appear to be small. The Court rejected claims that Google, Amazon, Facebook and other e-Commerce giants were competitive constraints and placed particular weight on the parties’ internal documents, once again showing how difficult it can be for merging parties to impeach their own unhelpful documents.View full memo, Bazaarvoice Shows Courts’ and Agencies’ Orthodox Approach to Mergers in High-Tech Markets
