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FTC Fails to Block Whole Foods Merger, Could Be Good News for XM

Published on August 20, 2007 | Email this article

The FTC’s attempt to block the planned merger of Whole Foods and Wild Oats has been stymied. A federal judge has rejected the attempt, which could mean good news for the proposed XM-Sirius merger.

According to an analyst report from Stifel Nicolaus, the ruling is a “modest positive” for the pending XM-Sirius merger and Google-DoubleClick transactions, both of which are under scrutiny by the Department of Justice/FCC and FTC respectively, writes Radio Ink.

The report states that, while mergers are fact-specific, the judge’s opinion could give XM-Sirius and Google-DoubleClick some “new legal ammo to argue for defining their relevant markets broadly, which could reduce antitrust concerns about potential anti-competitive affects.”

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