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Federal government weighs in on Texas antitrust suit against Big Three (2025)
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The U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission filed a statement of interest last week in an 11-state, Texas-led lawsuit alleging BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard colluded to suppress coal production, violating antitrust laws. The statement argued ESG-related coordination among asset managers could raise valid antitrust concerns.
Republican-led, energy-producing states like Texas have long targeted the Big Three over ESG. But the federal government’s statement of interest marks its first formal move supporting scrutiny of ESG-related collaboration on antitrust grounds.
According to The Wall Street Journal:
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Large institutional investors who own shares in rival companies risk violating antitrust laws if they use their influence to affect how those businesses compete, U.S. antitrust enforcers argued Thursday for the first time. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission made those views public by submitting a brief in a case filed last year by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Republicans against BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard Group. The federal government’s filing, known as a statement of interest, says the asset managers’ holdings of multiple companies in the coal industry—known as common ownership—could violate competition laws. … The Republican states’ lawsuit alleges BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard undermined competition in the coal industry by advancing a climate-change agenda on the companies. The asset managers last year collectively owned between 8% and 34% of publicly traded coal companies’ shares, the suit says. The coal companies produce nearly half of all U.S. coal, according to the Justice Department and FTC’s filing.[1] |
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See also
- Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- Economy and Society: Ballotpedia's ESG newsletter
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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