Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: Senators urge court to examine Hewlett Packard acquisition of Juniper Networks, (Jul 30, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

The senators questioned whether the acquisition’s approval was politically motivated, and whether the firing of two Antitrust Division employees was related.

U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) urged the federal district court in San Francisco in a letter to use its power under the Tunney Act to determine whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) approved the $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE) based on political favors or whether its approval was based on the public interest. The senators simultaneously submitted the letter as a public comment to the Antitrust Division as part of the Tunney Act process.

Settlement. The Antitrust Division filed a lawsuit on January 30, 2025 to block the HPE-Juniper acquisition. The government alleged the acquisition, if permitted to proceed, would result in two firms—market leader Cisco Systems, Inc., and HPE—controlling more than 70 percent of the U.S. market for enterprise-grade wireless local area network (WLAN) solutions. On July 7, 2025, the Antitrust Division, HPE, and Juniper filed a stipulation with the court setting forth agreed-upon terms for settling the DOJ’s lawsuit. The approval of the settlement comes with divestiture requirements as to HPE’s Instant On Business and licensing of Juniper’s AI Ops for Mist source code via auction.

Tunney Act. The Tunney Act is a transparency tool requiring district courts to ensure that final agreements between the U.S. and private parties are in accordance with federal law and are in the public interest. The Tunney Act requires courts to consider certain factors when determining whether a merger settlement is in the public interest. It gives courts authority to compel testimony and gather information to make such a determination. The senators noted that the Tunney Act would help prevent deals that threaten to concentrate money and power in the hands of a few at the expense of the public.

Acquisition requires scrutiny. The senators argued that the government’s settlement with HPE and Juniper requires scrutiny because: (1) it falls short of resolving the serious antitrust concerns identified in the DOJ’s original lawsuit; (2) recent news report suggests HPE and Juniper retained lobbyists and consultants with ties to the White House and the Office of the Attorney General to obtain a settlement that falls outside of the public interest, which they would not likely have been able to obtain in the ordinary course; and (3) there are allegations that officials in the Antitrust Division—Roger Alford and Bill Rinner, top deputies to Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater who were initially involved in negotiating the HPE settlement—may have been sidelined because they opposed the backroom negotiations leading to the settlement.

“Without transparency, the public cannot have confidence in DOJ’s decisions,” the senators wrote. “As representatives of the public, it is our duty to ensure that agencies can conduct their work based on the merits in the public interest, and not based on political favors.”

Antitrust Division firings. Just days after the government approved the transaction, two top officials in the Antitrust Division were fired. Roger Alford, the principal deputy assistant attorney general, and Bill Rinner, a deputy assistant attorney general and head of merger enforcement, were cited for insubordination and fired. Both officials served in the Antitrust Division during Trump's first term. There has been no official announcement of the firings, but both officials’ bios have disappeared from the agency’s website. Senator Warren’s press release noted that the firing came so swiftly after the settlement, and cited allegations that “officials in the Antitrust Division may have been sidelined because they opposed the backroom negotiations that led to this settlement.”

Companies: Juniper Networks; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.

News: AcquisitionsMergers Antitrust AntitrustDivisionNews