Trump Nominates Andrew Ferguson as FTC Chair | Global News Avenue

President-elect Donald Trump names Republican attorney Andrew Ferguson as his nominee to be the next Federal Trade Commission chairman, replacing Lina KhanHe’s known to be tough on both fronts merge and big tech companies.

“Andrew has a strong record of resisting Big Tech censorship and protecting free speech in our great country,” Trump posted on his social media platform Tuesday night. truth society. “Andrew will be the most America-first, most pro-innovation FTC Chairman in our country’s history.”

Ferguson plans to challenge big tech companies

Ferguson joined the FTC as commissioner in April. He wrote on the X social media platform on Tuesday that the FTC, under his direction, “will end Big Tech’s competition and freedom of speech. “

“We will ensure that America is the world’s technology leader and the best place for innovators to turn new ideas into reality,” Ferguson wrote.

Trump also nominated Republicans on Tuesday Antitrust Attorney Mark Meador will serve as Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Midor, wall street journal is reportedly a former aide to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) who spearheaded the recently introduced legislation break up Alphabet’s Google (Google).

Federal Trade Commission under Khan sue amazon (Amazon) and meta platform (Mehta) is suspected of abusing its monopoly position to suppress competition.

M&A activity well below 2021 highs

Bankers are likely to welcome Ferguson’s appointment as more deal-friendly. Total U.S. M&A so far this year is $1.35 trillion, only slightly higher than the 2023 figure and well below the 2023 level of $2.62 trillion 2021based on data exclusion from Dealogic.

Khan blocks billions of dollars worth of deals, including Long-planned $20 billion merger Kroger (betweenSouth Korea) and Albertson (ACI), a federal judge blocked the bill yesterday. Albertsons terminated the deal on Wednesday and said it had filed a lawsuit alleging Kroger “deliberate lack“Methods to secure regulatory clearance.