Il­lu­mi­na's $1.2B buy­out dies amid FTC 'mo­nop­o­list' ac­cu­sa­tion

Il­lu­mi­na’s $1.2 bil­lion buy­out of Pa­cif­ic Bio­sciences is dead.

The two DNA se­quenc­ing com­pa­nies of­fi­cial­ly tore up their merg­er agree­ment less than a month af­ter the Fed­er­al Trade Com­mis­sion blocked the deal in a sur­pris­ing and strong­ly-word­ed state­ment that deemed Il­lu­mi­na a “mo­nop­o­list” who was try­ing to so­lid­i­fy its long-term hold on the mar­ket by quash­ing a “nascent com­pet­i­tive threat.”

“When a mo­nop­o­list buys a po­ten­tial ri­val, it can harm com­pe­ti­tion,” Gail Levine, FTC’s Bu­reau of Com­pe­ti­tion deputy di­rec­tor, said at the time. “These deals help mo­nop­o­lists main­tain pow­er. That’s why we’re chal­leng­ing this ac­qui­si­tion.”

Sign up to read this article for free.

Get free access to a limited number of articles, plus choose newsletters to get straight to your inbox.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER