Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.

U.S. attorney general urged to consider blocking AT&T deal for Time Warner.  Seven consumer advocacy groups wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday to ask him to consider blocking AT&T’s plan to buy Time Warner on the grounds that it will lead to higher prices and slow innovation in showing video online.  Common Cause, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Public Knowledge and other groups echoed other critics of the deal, including some lawmakers, who say that the $85.4 billion deal would give AT&T, owner of DirecTV, the ability to withhold Time Warner’s content from other outlets and hurt the move to show television shows and movies on the Internet.

Nichicon to Plead Guilty in U.S. to Price-Fixing, Pay $42 Million Fine.  Japan’s Nichicon Corp. will plead guilty to fixing the prices of electrolytic capacitors sold in the United States and elsewhere, and will pay a $42 million fine, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.  The price-fixing conspiracy ran from September 1997 to 2014, and Nichicon participated from about 2001 to 2011, the Justice Department said in its complaint, filed in federal court in San Francisco. Electrolytic capacitors are used in a range of electronic products, including computers, televisions and car engines, to store and regulate electric current.

Newspapers to bid for antitrust exemption to tackle Google and Facebook.  The news industry is to band together to seek a limited antitrust exemption from Congress in an effort to fend off growing competition from Facebook and Google.  Traditional competitors including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, as well as a host of smaller print and online publications, will temporarily set aside their differences this week and appeal to federal lawmakers to let them negotiate collectively with the technology giants to safeguard the industry.

FanDuel, DraftKings scrap troubled merger.  Daily fantasy sports companies FanDuel and DraftKings scrapped a plan to merge on Thursday following a legal challenge by U.S. antitrust enforcers.  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said in June that it would seek to stop the deal because the combined company would control more than 90 percent of the U.S. market for paid daily fantasy sports contests

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.

Exclusive: EU considers record fine as panel checks Google Android case – sources.  EU antitrust regulators are weighing another record fine against Google over its Android mobile operating system and have set up a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case, two people familiar with the matter said.  Assuming the panel agrees with the initial case team’s conclusions, it could pave the way for the European Commission to issue a decision against Alphabet’s Google by the end of the year.  The Commission in April last year charged Google with using its dominant Android mobile operating system to shut out rivals following a complaint by lobby group FairSearch, U.S.-based ad-blocking and privacy firm Disconnect Inc., Portuguese apps store Aptoide and Russia’s Yandex.

Antitrust Regulators Sign Off on Cabela’s Sale to Bass Pro.  U.S. antitrust regulators have ended their investigation into Bass Pro Shops’ $4 billion deal to buy Cabela’s, Cabela’s said Wednesday.  The Nebraska-based chain said the Federal Trade Commission signed off on the deal earlier this week, but banking regulators still haven’t approved one part of the transaction.

Trump missing chance to steer antitrust as key FTC slots go unfilled.  The White House is passing up a chance to steer policy on everything from mergers to advertising as it delays choosing from three front-runners to name a permanent chair for the Federal Trade Commission.  The FTC, which shares the work of antitrust enforcement with the Justice Department and pursues companies accused of deceptive advertising, is currently headed by acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen, who was named on Jan. 25.

Broadcom wins U.S. antitrust consent to buy Brocade: FTC.  Chipmaker Broadcom Limited has won U.S. antitrust approval to buy Brocade Communications Systems, the Federal Trade Commission said on Monday.  The $5.5 billion deal, which already has won approval in Europe and Japan, is the latest in the chip industry as companies bulk up in response to growing demand for chips in connected devices and cars.

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.

EU fines Google record $2.7 billion in first antitrust case. EU antitrust regulators hit Google with a record 2.42-billion-euro ($2.7 billion) fine, taking a tough line in the first of three investigations into the company’s dominance in searches and smartphones. It is the biggest fine the EU has ever imposed on a single company in an antitrust case, exceeding a 1.06-billion-euro sanction handed down to U.S. chipmaker Intel in 2009. The European Commission said the world’s most popular internet search engine has 90 days to stop favoring its own shopping service or face a further penalty per day of up to 5 percent of Alphabet’s average daily global turnover.

U.S. antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm to proceed, judge rules. The Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm Inc can proceed, a federal judge ruled, meaning the iPhone chip supplier must now wage a fight with U.S. regulators even as it contests a separate $1 billion lawsuit filed by Apple Inc. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern District of California in San Jose denied Qualcomm’s motion to dismiss the FTC’s lawsuit, saying the agency’s allegations would amount to anticompetitive behavior on Qualcomm’s part if proved true.

EU Antitrust Regulators Halt Qualcomm, NXP Deal Review. EU antitrust authorities have halted their scrutiny of Qualcomm’s $38 billion bid for NXP Semiconductors after the companies failed to provide relevant information. The European Commission opened a full-scale investigation on June 9 and had been scheduled to decide on the deal by Oct. 17. “Once the missing information is supplied by the parties, the clock is re-started and the deadline for the Commission’s decision is then adjusted accordingly,” the EU competition authority said in an email.

Top EU court to rule on Intel antitrust case on Sept 6. Europe’s top court will rule on Sept. 6 whether to uphold Intel’s appeal against a 1.06-billion-euro ($1.2 billion) EU antitrust fine, a case with ramifications for Google’s challenge against a record sanction handed out this week. The European Commission penalized U.S. chipmaker Intel in 2009 because it tried to squeeze out rival Advanced Micro Devices by giving rebates to PC makers Dell, Hewlett-Packard Co, NEC and Lenovo for buying most of their computer chips from Intel.

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.

U.S. sues to stop western hospital system from buying clinics.  U.S. antitrust enforcers have filed a complaint aimed at stopping a big hospital system in the western United States from buying a series of clinics.  The lawsuit is aimed at stopping Sanford Health, which has more than 40 hospitals and 250 clinics, from buying Mid Dakota Clinic, which has eight facilities primarily in Bismarck, North Dakota, the Federal Trade Commission said.  The FTC, which sued along with the North Dakota attorney general’s office, said that the merger would sharply reduce competition to provide a broad range of medical services in Bismarck and the surrounding area.

U.S. to seek to block DraftKings, FanDuel fantasy sports merger.  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it will seek to stop the merger of DraftKings and FanDuel, because the combined company would control more than 90 percent of the U.S. market for paid daily fantasy sports contests.  The FTC, along with the attorneys general of California and the District of Columbia, will file a complaint in federal district court seeking a preliminary injunction to block the deal, the antitrust regulator said.

Judge Blocks Merger of Nuclear-Waste Disposal Companies.  A federal judge in Delaware has blocked a Utah-based nuclear waste disposal company from buying a Texas-based competitor.  The judge on Wednesday ruled in favor of the U.S. Justice Department in an antitrust lawsuit aimed at blocking Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions’ planned $367 million acquisition of rival Waste Control Specialists, based in Dallas.

Bayer CEO says talks with EU over Monsanto deal constructive.  Bayer’s chief executive said talks with the EU Commission over the antitrust scrutiny of the German drugmaker’s planned takeover of U.S. seeds maker Monsanto were “very good and constructive,” confirming a target to wrap up the deal by year-end.  Bayer still expects to be able to file for regulatory approval in Europe by the end of June, and CEO Werner Baumann reiterated that EU regulators would likely launch an in-depth analysis of the transaction, which will create the world’s largest supplier in the combined seeds and crop chemicals market.

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.

GE wins U.S. antitrust approval for Baker Hughes deal.  General Electric Co. has won U.S. antitrust approval to merge its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes Inc. to form a new publicly traded company, the U.S. Justice Department has announced.  GE and Baker Hughes announced the deal in October, months after Halliburton’s effort to buy Baker Hughes collapsed under pressure from the Justice Department.  Under the agreement, GE will combine Baker Hughes with its oil and gas business, creating a company with $23 billion in annual revenue, the companies said.

Google Said to Be Facing Record E.U. Fine by End of August.  European antitrust officials are preparing to hit Google with a potentially record fine by the end of August over some of the Silicon Valley giant’s search services, according to two people with direct knowledge of the case.  Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s competition chief, is in the final stages of ruling on the case, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly.  Any financial penalty is expected to be larger than the fine of 1.06 billion euros, now about $1.2 billion, then about $1.4 billion — at the time the highest ever — that Intel was forced to fork out for antitrust abuses in Europe in 2009.

Dow, DuPont merger wins U.S. antitrust approval with conditions.  DuPont and Dow Chemical Co. have won U.S. antitrust approval to merge on condition that the companies sell certain crop protection products and other assets, according to a court filing on Thursday.  The asset sales required by U.S. antitrust enforcers were similar to what the companies had agreed to give up in a deal they struck with European regulators in March.  The deal is one of several big mergers by farm suppliers, and the antitrust approval was quickly denounced by the head of the National Farmers Union, saying that farmers would face higher costs.  The U.S Justice Department said the asset sales would prevent price hikes or lost innovation.

Deutsche Bank reaches $170 million Euribor-rigging settlement.  Deutsche Bank AG will pay $170 million to settle an investor lawsuit claiming it conspired with other banks to manipulate the benchmark European Interbank Offered Rate and related derivatives.  A preliminary settlement was filed with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, and requires a judge’s approval.  It follows similar settlements with Barclays Plc and HSBC Holdings Plc for a respective $94 million and $45 million, which have won preliminary court approval.