FTC chair Lina Khan takes victory lap on blocking Nvidia-Arm merger
cnbc.com
cnbc.com
No.
I’m increasingly convinced putting someone as inexperienced as Khan in the seat was a savvy way to throw a bone to anti-merger activist types, who like tough talk more than compromise, while placating the pro-merger donor ones, who are more pragmatic if less principled.
To the extent the headline is making all the commenters here believe that to be the case the headline is clearly incorrect.
Here’s what Lina Khan actually says.
> Khan said that when the $40 billion merger was called off due to “significant regulatory challenges” in 2022, it forced both companies to innovate and create new products.
> “The trajectories of both companies in the wake of this action has illustrated how organic growth and competition can spur firms to further innovate in ways that benefit the business and public alike,” Khan said at the conference.
> The evidence, Khan said, is in the company stock prices.
> “Not only has Nvidia remained the leading AI chipmaker in the AI chip arms race, with a surging stock valuation, but Arm ended up going public and has a forward earnings multiple that is more than double Nvidia’s,” Khan said.
Lina Khan is clearly making the case that regulatory action is actually good for investors and not claiming any sort of credit to the FTC specifically.
What all these comments here only go to show is how few people actually read the articles before commenting on the headlines.