Abstract

On December 19, 2018, Altria announced an offer of $12.8 billion for Juul Labs, combining the largest U.S. cigarette manufacturer with the largest U.S. e-cigarette company. This deal is currently being challenged by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). We consider the antitrust implications. We also consider population health implications, which we argue are essential to a comprehensive analysis of the impact on consumers. Although the FTC antitrust investigation has focused on closed vaping systems, we argue that the relevant market is the broader nicotine delivery product market, which includes all vaping products along with tobacco products. With Altria having a large market share in the key nicotine delivery product submarkets and with important entry barriers, the merger potentially places Altria in a dominant position in the relevant market. In particular, competition in the vaping submarket is reduced, thereby likely to reduce the availability of less harmful alternatives to cigarettes.

中文翻译：

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奥驰亚-朱尔实验室交易分析：反垄断和人口健康影响

摘要

2018年12月19日，奥驰亚宣布以128亿美元收购Juul Labs，将美国最大的卷烟制造商与美国最大的电子烟公司合并。该交易目前正受到联邦贸易委员会 (FTC) 的挑战。我们考虑反垄断影响。我们还考虑了人口健康影响，我们认为这对于全面分析对消费者的影响至关重要。尽管 FTC 反垄断调查侧重于封闭式电子烟系统，但我们认为相关市场是更广泛的尼古丁递送产品市场，其中包括所有电子烟产品以及烟草产品。由于奥驰亚在主要的尼古丁递送产品子市场拥有较大的市场份额并且具有重要的进入壁垒，合并可能使奥驰亚在相关市场中处于主导地位。