FTC Issues Its Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2020

On November 16, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued its annual financial report. For the seventh consecutive year, the FTC has made the determination to issue an annual financial report and separately issue (in February 2021) its annual performance report. The performance report generally provides statistics on the types and number of cases the FTC brought in the prior year and the agency’s success rate. The annual financial report provides, among other things, summaries of the FTC’s “key performance goals” and scores the FTC on whether it met those goals.

In terms of the Bureau of Competition’s performance, the FTC reports that for fiscal year 2020, the FTC took action in 27 of its 35 full merger and non-merger investigations. The 27 actions resulted in 11 consent orders, two successful litigations, a stipulated injunction, and a settlement. The FTC also reports that in 12 instances, the parties ultimately abandoned their transaction as a result of the FTC’s investigation and/or challenge. All of those actions the FTC views as successes. The FTC had set for itself a target success rate of between 40 and 70 percent. The agency exceeded that target with a 77.1 percent success rate. 

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