Compass Lexecon Clients Prevail in Sprint/T-Mobile Merger Trial

On February 10, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of Deutsche Telekom AG, T-Mobile US, Inc., Softbank Group Corp., and Sprint Corporation in State of New York et al. v. Deutsche Telekom AG. et al. (Case 1:19-cv-05434-VM-RWL), concluding that the proposed merger “is not reasonably likely to substantially lessen competition.” Thirteen states and the District of Columbia brought the lawsuit against the parties seeking to enjoin the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile.

Compass Lexecon’s Professor Michael Katz testified at the trial and Judge Victor Marrero cited favorably to his testimony numerous times in his decision approving the merger, agreeing with Professor Katz’s economic analyses regarding merger-specific efficiencies and the risks of anticompetitive unilateral and coordinated effects.

Judge Marrero’s decision was consistent with previous decisions by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clear the deal, subject to certain conditions. During the DOJ and FCC regulatory review processes, Professor Katz, along with Drs. Mark Israel and Bryan Keating, filed several declarations and white papers showing that the proposed merger would be procompetitive.

Professor Katz and Compass Lexecon were retained by George S. Cary, Dan P. Culley, David I. Gelfand, and Mark W. Nelson of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. Professor Katz and Compass Lexecon also worked closely with Joshua H. Soven of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Hallie B. Levin of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Bradley S. Lui and David L. Meyer of Morrison & Foerster LLP, and Matthew P. Hendrickson and Steven C. Sunshine of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Professor Katz was supported by a Compass Lexecon team that included David Fenichel, Bryan Keating, Allan Shampine, Theresa Sullivan, Ka Hei Tse, Josephine Xu and others from the Compass Lexecon Washington, DC office.

Other Compass Lexecon team members included Jai Choudhari, Yilin Li, Ian MacSwain, Endi Mato, Robert Oandasan, Michael Sabor, Matt Schmitt, Zain Shahid, Benjamin Spulber, Rachel Tosney, Glenn Woroch, and Allan Zhang.