Ken Reinker’s practice focuses on all aspects of antitrust law.

Ken’s practice spans all industries, including extensive experience with pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and healthcare; high-technology industries; media; and financial institutions.

Ken has particular experience in antitrust economics and, after law school and prior to joining the firm, worked as an antitrust economist on monopolization litigation as executive director of Legal Economics LLC.

Ken joined the firm in 2010 and became a partner in 2016.

Notable Experience

Litigation and Investigation Highlights

  • Fox Corporation in a class action alleging price fixing and anticompetitive information exchanges in local broadcast television advertising, as well as in resolution of prior DOJ investigation. In re Local TV Advertising Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Ill.).

  • Keurig in monopolization litigation by competitors and purported class action plaintiffs. In re Keurig Green Mountain Single-Serve Coffee Antitrust Litig. (SDNY).

  • Sabre in lawsuits by American Airlines and US Airways challenging non-discrimination provisions in their agreements to distribute flights and fares through Sabre’s computerized reservation systems. See, e.g., U.S. Airways v. Sabre, 105 F. Supp. 3d 265 (SDNY 2015) (summary judgment decision reducing claimed damages from $951 million - $1.4 billion $135 – 219 million).

  • Citigroup in global investigations into FX trading.

  • ArcelorMittal in a class action alleging an agreement to reduce steel output. The court denied class certification on damages. In re Steel Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Ill.)

  • Mallinckrodt in FTC monopolization investigation involving the acquisition of an alleged nascent competitor.

  • 10X Genomics in antitrust counterclaims challenging Bio-Rad’s acquisition of patent rights related to genomics testing technology. 483 F. Supp. 3d 38 (D. Mass. 2020).

  • Medytox in a class action litigation brought against Allergan challenging a license agreement between Allergan and Medytox related to Medytox’s injectable neurotoxins. Allergan settled the case with no impact on Medytox’s license.

  • Netafim, a leading provider of micro-irrigation equipment, in obtaining dismissal of antitrust claims alleging a group boycott brought by Jain, 386 F. Supp. 3d 1308 (ED Cal. 2019), and in Netafim’s affirmative claims against Jain for an illegal acquisition.

  • Aerostar Airport Holdings in defeating preliminary injunction alleging monopolization of in-flight catering at San Juan’s airport. (D. P.R. 2019)

  • A major automotive parts company, as well as an individual and third-parties, in the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigations into industry-wide price fixing.

  • Harper Collins in connection with the consent decree in the DOJ’s e-books investigation.

  • A health care data services company in FTC investigations into the company’s business practices, including alleged exclusivity provisions and alleged most favored nations provisions, which were resolved with no action.

  • Multiple pharmaceutical companies in connection with patent settlement issues.

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Merger Review Highlights

  • Synopsys in its pending $35 billion acquisition of Ansys.

  • 21st Century Fox in U.S. antitrust aspects of its $71.3 billion sale of its film and television studios and certain cable networks to The Walt Disney Company, as well as in competing bids from Comcast. The deal obtained U.S. antitrust approval in just six months.

  • Western Digital in its $17 billion acquisition of SanDisk, with no remedies, and its prior $4.8 billion acquisition of Hitachi’s hard-drive business.

  • Family Dollar in its $9.3 billion acquisition by Dollar Tree and its rejection of Dollar General’s hostile tender offer on antitrust grounds.

  • IMS Health in its $17.6 billion merger with Quintiles, forming the new IQVIA, and its prior acquisitions of Cegedim’s CRM and strategic data businesses and of SDI Health.

  • St. Gobain and CertainedTeed in acquiring Continental Building Products in the gypsum industry, without a “Second Request” investigation.

  • Altaris in its $1.55 billion acquisition of Perrigo’s generic prescription pharmaceutical business, without a “Second Request” investigation.

  • Meda in its $9.9 billion acquisition by Mylan, with the divestiture of only two generics.

  • Post Holdings in acquiring TreeHouse’s ready-to-eat cereal business. This transaction closed in June 2021, after initially being challenged by FTC in December 2019.

  • Verisign, which operates the .com top-level domain (TLD), in the DOJ’s investigation into Verisign’s acquisition of the rights to operate the .web TLD. This investigation was closed with no action.

  • Thales in its €4.6 billion acquisition of Gemalto, with a divestiture only of one product.

  • TPG in its transaction with AT&T establishing the new DirecTV, consisting of AT&T’s former video operations, including DirecTV, AT&T TV, and U-Verse.

  • TPG in the sale of Transplace, a provider of third-party logistics services, to Uber.

  • Samsung Electronics in the sale of its printer business to HP Inc. for $1.05 billion.

  • Haldex in an unsolicited takeover offer by Knorr-Bremse that involved two of the largest truck brake suppliers, as well as competing bids from ZF Friedrichshafen and SAF-Holland.

  • Vista Equity Partners and its portfolio company Lanyon Solutions in the acquisition of Cvent, an event software provider, with no remedies.

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Selected Activities

trigger
  • Articles Co-Chair, Harvard Law Review, Harvard Law School
  • Olin Fellow in Law, Economics and Business, Harvard Law School
  • Teaching Fellow, Antitrust Economics, Harvard University, 2005

Publications

2024 Antitrust Update: Agencies Sharpen Their Teeth, But Is It All Bark and No Bite?” Cleary Gottlieb Selected Issues for Boards of Directors in 2024, January 17, 2024

FTC & DOJ Propose Radical Changes to Merger Guidelines,” Cleary Gottlieb Alert Memorandum, July 24, 2023

Sweeping Changes to Premerger (HSR) Process in the United States Proposed by Enforcement Agencies,” Cleary Gottlieb Alert Memorandum, June 30, 2023

HSR Filing Fee Changes Impose New Tax on M&A Activity,” Cleary Antitrust Watch blog, January 06, 2023

Getting the Deal Through: Dominance 2023, ” Law Business Research, annual editions from 2017-2022

U.S. DOJ and FTC Announce Plan to Revamp Merger Guidelines,” Cleary Gottlieb Alert Memorandum, January 19, 2022

The Dominance and Monopolies Review, U.S. chapter, annual editions from 2013-2021

Fifth Circuit Upholds FTC’s Impax Decision in First Fully Litigated Post-Actavis Reverse Payment Decision,” Cleary Gottlieb Alert Memorandum, April 23, 2021

HiQ v. LinkedIn: Antitrust Issues with Barring Rivals from Web Scraping,” ABA’s Icarus newsletter, August 5, 2020

Market Definition and Competitive Effects in Merger Review: The Staples-Office Depot Example,” The Antitrust Counselor, 2016

Events