Stephen King
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Australia and the United States have been waving through takeovers because the targets are small something that’s usually good practice.
Under Australian law, takeovers are normally permitted unless they would “have the effect, or be likely to have the effect, of substantially lessening competition”.
Under US law, they are normally permitted unless their effect “may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly”.
It means the key question authorities in both countries ask before approving a takeover is whether it is big enough to take out a substantial competitor.