A dealmaking frenzy is on the horizon as Biden’s top trustbuster faces the end of her tenure

Analysis by Allison Morrow, CNN

New York (CNN) — Lina Khan’s days at the helm of the Federal Trade Commission, where she has overseen billions of dollars worth of scuttled corporate tie-ups — and become a political lightning rod — are numbered. And Wall Street is salivating.

As Donald Trump prepares to retake the White House, it’s almost certain he’ll fire Khan, the most aggressive antitrust regulator in a generation and, therefore, an enemy of billionaire corporate executives who stand to profit from the industry consolidation that she’s spent the past three-plus years fighting.

Representatives for Trump’s transition team and the FTC didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Wall Street, which has been on a tear since Trump’s decisive victory last week, appears to be ready to turn the page on the Khan era.

But while a lighter regulatory touch might be good news for executives, it’s less clear how consumers and workers will fare.

“Once Lina Khan is replaced at the FTC and the commission flips to a majority Republican … a number of changes will likely occur that are good for businesses, though arguably not good for consumers,” Jennifer Rie, a senior antitrust litigation analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, told CNN in an email.

In conjunction with the Justice Department’s antitrust division, the FTC under Khan has blocked dozens of deals over concerns that greater consolidation undermines competition and makes it easier for companies to jack up prices and exploit their workers. That was the logic behind the FTC’s lawsuit to block the $25 billion megamerger of grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons earlier this year. Similarly, the FTC has gone after Big Tech, Big Pharma and even Big Mattress in the name of keeping competition robust.

Of course, business leaders (and the politicians who kowtow to them) don’t love the government getting in the way, and tend to argue that regulation stifles innovation. To them, Khan and her DOJ partner in trustbusting, Jonathan Kanter, represent a threat to the bottom line.

Elon Musk, the Trump supporter and Tesla CEO, posted on X last month that Khan “will be fired soon.” Barry Diller, the IAC chairman and billionaire Democratic donor, went on TV to call Khan a “dope” (though he later clarified: “I said, ‘she’s a dope.’ She isn’t. She’s smart but I believe overreaches in disrupting sensible business combinations.”)

Meanwhile, progressives and a handful of self-styled populist Republican “Khanservative” lawmakers say her approach to fighting industry consolidation is long overdue. (A bit awkwardly, one of Khan’s unexpected champions is none other than Trump’s running mate, Vice-President-elect JD Vance.)

On Saturday, Bloomberg reported that Gail Slater, an aide to Vance, is advising the incoming administration on a shortlist of candidates to replace Khan at the FTC, the agency tasked with promoting business competition and protecting consumers from monopolies.

In other words, it seems almost certain Khan’s tenure is coming to an end.

Since last week’s election, both Kroger and Albertsons shares have risen sharply as investors anticipate the deal would face little resistance under Trump’s FTC.

The regulatory posture “will likely be more relaxed under the incoming administration,” wrote David Kostin, Goldman Sachs’ chief US equity strategist, in a note last week.

With the economy humming and CEO confidence improving, Kostin wrote, merger and acquisition activity should rebound by 20% in 2025, compared with an estimated 15% decline in 2024.

Early signs of Trump’s personnel moves also appear to be giving some investors more confidence.

“A few days after Donald Trump’s election, we are feeling more sanguine about M&A activity,” said Brian Gardner, chief Washington policy strategist for Stifel, in a note. “We had previously cautioned that there was unlikely to be a big shift in policy, but we are rethinking this view based on the names who are being floated for key positions in the administration.”

Gardner specifically called out Susie Wiles, whom Trump tapped as his White House chief of staff, as “more mainstream than populist,” which he views as a “positive sign” for M&A.

Of course, that assumes the economy keeps chugging along at its current, remarkably strong rate if Trump follows through with his full slate of economic campaign promises, virtually all of which could send inflation soaring and force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates — two conditions that would rather quickly sap investors’ enthusiasm for dealmaking.

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