The Justice Department has moved to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, citing concerns about reduced competition in the technology market. This move by the Biden administration marks a departure from expectations of a lighter touch on antitrust enforcement under President Trump’s second term.
HPE had announced the takeover of Juniper last year in hopes of bolstering its position in the networking industry and competing with giants like Cisco. Regulators in Britain and the EU had cleared the deal, but the U.S. government issued further scrutiny.
Omeed Assefi, acting assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division, brought the lawsuit against the merger, claiming it would stifle innovation and raise prices for buyers of technology equipment and services. HPE and Juniper combined hold a significant share of the enterprise-grade networking services market in the U.S.
The lawsuit also reflects a broader trend of stringent antitrust enforcement under the Biden administration, with recent challenges to mergers such as Kroger-Albertsons and Tapestry-Capri. While some mergers have been successfully blocked, others, like Meta’s acquisition of a virtual reality start-up, have proceeded despite regulatory pushback.
Industry groups have criticized the regulators for hindering deals that could benefit consumers and have hoped for a more lenient approach under future administrations. Despite the pushback, the Justice Department remains committed to enforcing antitrust laws to protect competition in critical industries.
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