F.T.C.’s Court Loss Raises Fresh Questions About Its Chair’s Strategy
Summary
For too long, Ms. Khan said at the time, the agency had been a weak cop and needed to challenge behemoths like Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Google in the courts to stem their growing power. A federal judge rejected the F.T.C.’s attempt to stop Microsoft’s $70 billion acquisition of the video game maker Activision Blizzard from closing, saying the agency failed to prove the deal would reduce competition and harm consumers. The defeats raise questions about Ms. Khan’s ability to carry out her ambitious goal of reversing decades of weak antitrust enforcement, as political pressure mounts and patience wanes for the 34-year-old academic, who has ruffled the feathers of corporate America. “She’s trying to change a century’s worth of antitrust law overnight, and that’s not necessarily wise.” Adam Kovacevich, the chief executive of Chamber of Progress, a tech trade group, said the defeats made the F.T.C. After President Biden picked Ms. Khan to lead the F.T.C., she repeatedly argued that it needed to go to court — win or lose — to send the tech industry a strong signal that the agency was becoming a tougher sheriff.