Antitrust laws are supposed to prevent monopolies, protecting competition and consumers. They are pointed to as a tool government uses to rein in the power and bigness of big business.
But sometimes antitrust laws can help the biggest businesses while hurting smaller ones. That could be happening with office supplies these days.
Some investors are pushing Staples to merge with Office Depot. One reason: They face tough competition from bigger retailers.
But Staples is pooh-poohing this talk, and antitrust concerns are a big reason, according to the Financial Times:
Indeed, in the 1990s, the Federal Trade Commission blocked these same two companies from merging, triumphantly declaring that “consumers have won” and “competition has been preserved.”
Now, maybe the FT’s anonymous source is wrong. Or maybe Staples folks really are worried about the feds blocking the merger, but wrongly. After all, the FTC approved the Office Max-Office Depot merger a few years back, explicitly citing the competition from Amazon and Wal-Mart.
But if the FT article is correct, then antitrust laws could be responsible for reduced competition and victory for Wal-Mart.
