Word: antitrust
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Only a decade ago such big deals would never have been seriously considered for fear that Government antitrust officials would stop them dead. But the merger plans announced last week by two pairs of leaders in the railroad and steel industries have a good chance of winning Washington's approval. With Smokestack America in a period of decline and retrenchment, the Reagan Administration tends to look favorably on consolidations that could make weak companies stronger. In addition, stiff competition from abroad has made the antitrust laws increasingly irrelevant for many important industries...
...return for like arrangements on "their" jobs. Sometimes payoffs beyond these so-called complimentary bids are involved, as was the case with two former officials of Ashland-Warren, Inc., an Atlanta-based subsidiary of Ashland Oil, Inc., which boasts the dubious distinction of having paid in 1982 the largest antitrust penalties ever assessed a U.S. corporation. The executives were convicted of agreeing to slip $125,000 to a smaller company that had underbid them on a Tennessee highway project. In return, Ashland-Warren was to become a 100% "subcontractor...
Over the past four years grand juries in at least 24 states have examined the activities of collusive contractors, and U.S. Justice Department Antitrust Operations Director Joseph Widmar promises that more probes are on the way. "I'm not convinced that bid rigging has ceased," he says. "At this point I can't see any end to our investigation." The practice has grown so pervasive among builders of the nation's highways, airports and utility installations that many cannot remember doing business without...
Hanging over the bargaining is AT&T's impending breakup. To settle an antitrust suit, AT&T's local operating companies will spin off into seven independent regional units next Jan. 1. Because of uncertainty over how profitable each will be, both labor and management seemed anxious to strike the best deal they could before the divestiture occurs...
MITI has had more success with dampening competition in declining industries. In many cases, the government has been willing to bend its antitrust laws to permit cooperation among companies. When the shipbuilding business started to sag in the 1970s, MITI allowed the firms to form a cartel that would share orders. In that way, the decline was evenly distributed. The strategy gave the companies time to diversify, while gradually reducing their production. MITI is now encouraging the formation of similar cartels in the paper, petrochemical and aluminum industries...