“Killer Acquisitions,” Big Tech, and Section 2: A Solution in Search of a Problem

Since the term “killer acquisition” was coined last year, many have moved quickly to declaring a killer-acquisition problem in tech and proposing Section 2 of the Sherman Act as a solution. In this article, we urge caution before extending conclusions about killer acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry to an entirely different industry where product development is less regimented and innovation is more opaque. And we argue that the benefits of Section 2 as a merger enforcement tool ar