In Washington’s regulatory halls, the red tape is getting a trim. Under President Donald Trump’s second-term leadership, antitrust regulators have swapped scrutiny for speed, quietly giving the nod to a cascade of mega-mergers — and sending a clear message: if it doesn’t scream monopoly, it’s good to go.
In just one week this past June, federal watchdogs rubber-stamped three major deals totaling a jaw-dropping \$63 billion. Among them? Candy titan Mars got the all-clear to scoop up Pringles-maker Kellanova for \$36 billion, and ad behemoth Omnicom zipped through with a \$13.5 billion buyout of Interpublic. Meanwhile, Nutella’s parent company Ferrero is sliding into the cereal aisle with a \$3.1 billion move to acquire WK Kellogg — a deal insiders say now has a smooth path.
The architects of this antitrust makeover — FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and DOJ antitrust head Gail Slater — are painting a stark contrast with the previous administration’s hard-nosed approach. Under Biden, delays were routine. Settlements? Rare. Now, the pendulum has swung the other way.
“The Trump-Vance FTC is committed to getting out of the way of mergers if there are no competition concerns,” said an FTC spokesperson, echoing what has become the agency’s unofficial mantra.
More than 100 deals have received early terminations since Trump returned to office, restoring a practice Biden’s team largely froze. Companies itching to close shop quickly are rejoicing. According to law firm Dechert, average merger closing timelines hit 18.5 months in 2024 — delays that were often a byproduct of regulators unwilling to settle. That’s no longer the case.
Behind the scenes, it’s not just policy that’s changed — it’s philosophy. “Deterrence is not the goal,” DOJ official Bill Rinner recently declared. Rinner, who joined from Apollo Global Management, emphasized that deals with no competitive harm shouldn’t be held hostage by overzealous reviews.
Take the case of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s \$14 billion play for Juniper Networks. Initially blocked by the DOJ under competition concerns, the case made a U-turn after Trump’s DOJ struck a deal: HPE could move forward if it licensed Juniper’s AI tech to competitors and shed a small business unit.
This kind of deal-making — pragmatic, fast, and focused — is catching the eye of Wall Street. With megadeals back on the table, everyone from healthcare giants to tech titans is lining up. UnitedHealth’s \$3.3 billion bid for Amedisys is still in court thanks to leftover Biden-era opposition, but that could soon change.
Pending approvals also include Charter’s \$21.9 billion acquisition of Cox Communications, Rocket Companies’ \$9.4 billion move on Mr. Cooper Group, and Alphabet’s \$32 billion cyber-grab of Wiz.
Still, not every deal gets a golden ticket. Kroger’s \$25 billion attempt to swallow Albertsons hit a wall under Biden — and might still face resistance now. But as one seasoned antitrust lawyer noted, “You’ve got a better shot under Trump than you did with the last guy.”
For America’s dealmakers, the message is clear: the green light is back in style.
