In the recently published Universal/EMI decision, the European Commission developed a novel theory of harm based on the impact of the transaction on the merging parties’ bargaining power. This memo explains the economic reasoning behind the Commission’s bargaining theory and presents a critical view of its application to the recorded music industry. In particular, the memo argues that the theory did not fit the facts of the case, and highlights some of the pitfalls to be avoided when testing such bargaining theories of harm.
The Role of Uncertainty in the Future European Horizontal Merger Guidelines: Lessons Learned From Illumina/GRAIL
Under these circumstances, it is however not entirely clear how the future competitive landscape will look like, merger effects cannot be modelled with a high...