Report

Biden Administration’s HSR Data: 7 Key Takeaways (and Some Surprises)

January 2024

The Federal Trade Commission recently released the Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report for the Fiscal Year 2022, which includes Hart-Scott-Rodino Act filing statistics for the most recent year available (October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022), which, in addition to other data recently released by the agencies, provides a rich dataset to assess the outcome of the agencies’ enforcement efforts. The data appears to demonstrate that the rate of enforcement has generally remained the same (refuting some media narratives) and reveals a sharp uptick in parties abandoning deals, which is now occurring with respect to 35–45%+ of deals receiving a Second Request—perhaps as a result of the agencies no longer settling.