Higgins Comments in GCR on FTC’s Unusual Zillow/Trulia Statement
Originally appeared in Global Competition Review on February 24, 2015
Global Competition Review (GCR) quoted Kaye Scholer Antitrust Partner Claudia Higgins in “FTC issues unusual Zillow/Trulia statement.” Last week, the Federal Trade Commission decided unanimously to end its second request inquiry of online real estate advertiser Zillow’s acquisition of Trulia. Yet the statement issued on the subject came from three FTC members instead of from the commission as a whole or from the chairman.
In the article, GCR notes Claudia’s experience as a former FTC litigator and quotes her as saying the Zillow/Trulia statement is “somewhat unusual” for being published by only three commissioners.
The article continues: ‘“This may be truly inside baseball, but it does cause someone who practices routinely before the agency to wonder whether this signals something or is just how they decided to do it this time,’ she said. ‘On the substance of this merger, I can understand why this is a matter where commissioners might think it would be useful to explain their analysis,’ because the merging companies appear to be each other’s closest competitor.”