John Mark Newman

Antitrust expert. Prof @Memphis Law. Fmr: prof @MiamiLaw, Deputy Director of FTC Bureau of Competition, trial atty @ U.S. DOJ Antitrust Division.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@BarclayDavidP @danielahanley Also words have to mean something; right? They say Tampa Electric "explicitly prescribed a rule of reason." But it didn't even explicitly mention the rule of reason, let alone explicitly prescribe it.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@ErikHovenkamp ... critique, overlooking the simultaneous internal critique.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

At the risk of sounding blunt, this is a bad take. One of the core ideas is actually that the old status quo--a whole bunch of often-conflicting assumptions and arguments packaged as "consumer welfare"--was pretty bad at achieving its own stated goal of lowering prices.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@ErikHovenkamp Ah, got it. No, that'd be a whole other debate--one probably not well-suited for X! Or debates, probably. Just saying here that Matt's take doesn't address one of the core parts of the arguments he's supposedly describing. He seems to think there was only an external...

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@ErikHovenkamp Hi Erik! Hope all's well. Not sure I follow what you're disagreeing w/ here. The point above is antimonopoly reformers made an internal critique; is that the point of disagreement? Or do you agree with that but disagree w/ the substance of that critique?

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@brian_callaci Definitely a concerted refusal to deal I could get behind.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

Nexstar's main argument for why it needs to buy Tegna (besides firing workers) is trouble competing against Big Tech. But great reporting @Bloomberg captures how Nexstar's rash decision in the face of an antitrust challenge has badly hamstrung Tegna.

https://t.co/MqlA9Np3Gp

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@ericfruits Hi Dr. Fruits, hope all is well. Interesting take! Not sure exactly what your analysis is here--are you assuming that Rendezvous is sponsoring this? If so, they aren't. (They just make really good dry rub.)

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

🚨Swag alert🚨 First 50 people through the doors next Friday @memlawschool's upcoming Labor Antimonopoly conference will make off with a free jar of Rendezvous BBQ dry rub!!!

Free to attend, RSVP here: https://t.co/rdNx4fKNvT

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

One aspect of the JetBlue/Spirit saga I haven't seen much discussion of is that the merger breakup fee JetBlue owed Spirit for its failed takeover bid was quite low, just ~1.8% of reported deal value. Far less than the *average* fee, for a deal Spirit's own board called illegal.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@Sherman1890 That's phenomenal! That was my experience at Miami as well, we filled up the biggest classroom at the law school last year. My sense is student interest is off the charts these days. Law-school hiring committees may be lagging behind the demand.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@Sherman1890 ...useful information for hiring committees at schools that traditionally have not offered it.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@Sherman1890 Hi Herb, hope all's well! Curious whether you've seen student demand for Antitrust fall off? I've seen it increase massively starting in ~2023 and have heard others see the same in their courses. A survey of enrollment numbers would be interesting, and perhaps...

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@BalanceCrafting To be fair that stuff is almost impossible to pull apart once it's dried, so it was really important to challenge this merger ex ante. I once ripped a shower rail off the wall that had been Liquid Nailsed on, and it pulled the tiles off with it!

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@Sherman1890 And it's true that AMZN doesn't want rivals to do well... But that's not a cognizable justification. It would excuse lots of anticompetitive conduct--Lorain Journal didn't want the radio station to attract advertisers, Dentsply didn't want other sellers to reach patients, etc.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

A clear, concise example of how Amazon's conduct prevents would-be rivals from gaining business by offering lower prices.

[Stacy Mitchell @stacyfmitchell]

1. New evidence shows Amazon compelling specific sellers to hike their prices on other shopping sites. This is from depositions @guardian obtained from the California antitrust case. Expect a lot more to come out at trial. This drives prices up & is why Amazon has an iron grip.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@Sherman1890 I was responding to the claim above that AMZN's conduct is procompetitive b/c AMZN picks the lowest-price offer for the Buy Box. That's not the conduct in question, though. The allegations are that AMZN is not simply selecting the best quality-adjusted price offer. (1/2)

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@Sherman1890 But if AMZN were simply selecting which of its sellers is offering the lowest price to its customers, then AMZN shouldn't care what price (if any) that seller may be offering elsewhere. Same for picking the best quality-adjusted price--prices off-site are irrelevant to that.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@Sherman1890 ... efficiencies rationales that may apply in other contexts are less plausible in these.

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

@Sherman1890 If you add in communications between AMZN and a seller + that same seller and another platform (say Walmart) and back again, it can also have a collusive-type effect. Jon Baker & Fiona Scott-Morton had a nice paper on platform MFNs awhile back cataloguing this and suggesting...