The authors use recent enforcement examples to discuss market definition, theory of harm, and efficiencies in merger cases involving platforms.
Recent trends in merger enforcement demonstrate the importance of understanding the economic issues involved in platform mergers. The number of significant platform transactions reviewed by agencies has increased.
In this article, authors Andrew Sweeting of the University of Maryland and Sinan Corus of Cornerstone Research discuss several economic issues that often arise in platform cases. Using three recent examples of enforcement in the United States and Europe, the authors discuss:
- market definition
- theory of harm in the context of horizontal and vertical mergers
- efficiencies involved in these mergers and recent academic literature
This article was originally published by Competition Law Insight in November 2021.
The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Cornerstone Research.
London
