Antitrust bill would bar mergers over $5B, allow regulators to unwind others

(credit: Dave Rutt)

Two Democratic lawmakers introduced a new bill on Wednesday that would institute a host of new regulations to scrutinize mergers, including a prohibition of those valued at more than $5 billion.

The Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act, sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), would also prevent mergers and acquisitions that would increase market share among sellers and buyers beyond certain thresholds and would give regulators additional tools to unwind mergers.

While the $5 billion threshold, indexed to inflation, may capture headlines, this bill is perhaps most notable because it attempts to limit companies' dominance as an employer, too, by preventing any one firm from controlling more than 25 percent of a labor market.

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