Antitrust Division Hits Private Equity Giants

The Money Trust is feeling the sting of the Clayton Act, once again.

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Antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter has pledged to resurrect old antitrust laws against financial empires, and so he has. The Antitrust Division under his leadership has forced the resignation of five more directors of firms due to enforcement of Section 8 of the Clayton Act, which prohibits people from serving as board members for rival firms.

Putting your people on the boards of many different competitors is how large private equity giants build financial empires, it’s also the essence of J.P. Morgan’s ‘money trust’ put together in the late 19th century that the Clayton Act was supposed to curb. These resignations hit PE giants Apollo, Thoma Bravo, and Brookfield Asset management, who all had to forego having their people on the boards of firms they were trying to influence.