Sectors
Foley & Lardner LLP attorneys Louis Lehot, Kelly Boyd, and Callie Ericksen co-authored the Law.com article, “Blitzhires and the Regulatory Blindspot.”
“Combining rapid talent recruitment with IP licensing, the blitzhire is deliberately architected to fall outside merger-control frameworks,” the authors write. “Its competitive effects can rival those of a full-scale merger, yet existing enforcement tools struggle to reach it.”
The authors consider the structural differences between blitzhires and acqui-hires, how blitzhires evade merger control, discuss the substance-over-form regulatory challenge, analyze international enforcement complexities, examine market factors supporting these transactions, and discuss possible regulatory approaches.
“Blitzhires are not replacing M&A. They are, however, revealing a structural gap in the regulatory architecture that governs it,” the authors concluded.
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