Word: antitrust
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...pass measures to address Berlusconi's conflict of interest as owner of Italy's three main private television channels. Will you force him to choose between politics and owning TV? I don't want to pass a punitive law, or use politics as a vendetta. But a simple antitrust law is where we must start. Democracies must have equilibrium ... and the entanglement of politics and information must be minimized. What will be your first priority as Prime Minister? The absolute priority is the relaunching of the economy. We will start by reducing labor costs in a very targeted...
Like Bill Gates, who started his charitable foundation shortly after Microsoft's antitrust trial, Scott happens to be burnishing Wal-Mart's image at a time when his company's reputation is under siege. He acknowledges that he launched the plan partly to shield Wal-Mart from bad press about its contribution to global warming. "By doing what we're doing today you avoid the headline risks that are going to come for people who did not do anything," he says. "At some point businesses will be held accountable for the actions they take." Meanwhile, should Wal-Mart succeed...
...evaluation report on the sector last month, Kroes conceded that Europe's gas and electricity markets were still dogged by "real market distortions" that stiff the consumer. "Take this as a gentle word of warning," she cautioned. "We are at the beginning of a period of more intensive antitrust enforcement." Kroes can scrap deals that put competition at risk by creating or reinforcing a dominant position, but it's a tough case to make when the combining companies are anchored in different regions or product sectors. Moreover, injecting competition into the energy sector is made difficult by the legacy...
...motives and promise he wouldn't cut European jobs. Governments have limited formal means to stop the Arcelor deal, as 85% of the company is traded freely on the stock market. Nonetheless, they and labor unions can make life hard for Mittal, who still needs to get E.U. antitrust clearance for the deal. The French government has used its political muscle to block takeovers in the past, including an attempt in 2004 by Germany's Siemens to acquire some operations of its ailing French rival Alstom. But the government's control over privately held companies is much more limited...
...Antitrust clearance may take several months, but early indications are that it may not pose a huge problem. The combined company would be three times the size of its nearest competitors, with a 10% share of the world steel market, but Mittal and Arcelor don't have many territorial or product overlaps that could cause problems with regulators. Hermann Reith, analyst with BHF-Bank in Frankfurt, says he reckons the chances of the deal going through are now more than 50%. "We will look at this issue, as always, very carefully on competition grounds only. The regulation gives...