GE/Honeywell: The U.S. Merger that Europe Stopped - A Story of the Politics of Convergence

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

Eleanor Fox of NYU School of Law just posted her chapter in her forthcoming edited volume of Antitrust Stories (co-authored with Dan Crane) of the most contentious trans-Atlantic merger of all time, GE/Honeywell.  Her chapter is titled GE/Honeywell: The U.S. Merger that Europe Stopped - A Story of  the Politics of Convergence.  Fox's description and analysis of this story is a real page turner and helps to shed light on a case that we continue to discuss as much for its political implications as for its antitrust analysis.  To date, we have yet to see trans-Atlantic divergence since GE/Honeywell.  However, the European Court of First Instance will issue its ruling on the Microsoft Case (due September 17) and we may see trans-Atlantic fireworks again.  I will not speculate at the moment about the forthcoming Microsoft ruling but will note that there were some troubling elements to the initial EU Microsoft decision.