The Volokh Conspiracy - Judge Exhibits Common Sense in Whole Foods/Wild Oats Case:

A federal judge has denied the FTC's request for an injunction to block the proposed merger between Whole Foods and Wild Oats. I was just telling co-conspirator Todd today that I thought that the FTC's theory in this case--that there is an organic and premium food grocery market separate from the regular grocery store market, even though any grocery store can carry organic and premium foods, and many, including Wal-Mart(!), do--was unusually silly.

Conflict of interest note: Guessing that no federal judge was likely to buy the FTC's theory, I recently took a small long position in OATS.

UPDATE: Here's Geoff Manne dissecting the FTC's argument in some detail over at Truth on the Market. Geoff calls the FTC's "conception of market definition ludicrous almost beyond belief."

	[David Bernstein, August 16, 2007 at 9:15pm] Trackbacks Judge Exhibits Common Sense in Whole Foods/Wild Oats Case: A federal judge has denied the FTC's request for an injunction to block the proposed merger between Whole Foods and Wild Oats. I was just telling co-conspirator Todd today that I thought that the FTC's theory in this case--that there is an organic and premium food grocery market separate from the regular grocery store market, even though any grocery store can carry organic and premium foods, and many, including Wal-Mart(!), do--was unusually silly. Conflict of interest note: Guessing that no federal judge was likely to buy the FTC's theory, I recently took a small long position in OATS. UPDATE: Here's Geoff Manne dissecting the FTC's argument in some detail over at Truth on the Market. Geoff calls the FTC's "conception of market definition ludicrous almost beyond belief."