U.S. Sues to Block Tech Deal in First Antitrust Action of Trump Term
The challenge to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s acquisition of Juniper Networks came as many in corporate America had expected a lighter touch under a new administration.
The challenge to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s acquisition of Juniper Networks came as many in corporate America had expected a lighter touch under a new administration.
The Justice Department on Thursday moved to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, the first deal to be challenged by antitrust enforcers during President Trump’s second term.
In a lawsuit filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the government said the deal “risks substantially lessening competition in a critically important technology market.” The agency said that the deal would end a corporate rivalry in the wireless networking industry that resulted in lower prices for big companies, universities, hospitals and other buyers of complex technology systems.
The suit came as many in corporate America had expected that a lighter touch under Mr. Trump would unleash a wave of deal making after four years of tough scrutiny by regulators under former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. But the attempt this week to stop the tech deal suggests there may be more consistency between the Biden and Trump administrations on antitrust enforcement than some had thought.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise, or HPE, a business software and services company, announced the $14 billion takeover of Juniper last year, with hopes of combining its data centers with Juniper’s networking business to take on giants like Cisco.
Regulators in Britain and the European Union cleared the deal this summer. But the Biden administration’s antitrust enforcers had issued what is known as a “second request” for more information, indicating scrutiny of the transaction.
The suit was brought by Omeed Assefi, tapped by Mr. Trump to be the acting assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department. Mr. Trump’s nominee for the top antitrust role, Gail Slater, is not yet confirmed. Ms. Slater previously worked as a policy adviser for Vice President JD Vance and for the National Economic Council during Mr. Trump’s first term. Mr. Vance has at times complimented the efforts of Lina Khan, Mr. Biden’s trustbusting Federal Trade Commission chair, and has criticized big technology companies as “having too much power.”
