United States Code

15 U.S.C. § 18

Acquisition by one corporation of stock of another

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Bills that would change it 35

  • S 4434 CLEAN Mergers Act Amends its part · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 8184 Fair Prices for Local Businesses Act Amends its part · introduced · 119th Congress
  • S 4147 Fair Prices for Local Businesses Act Amends its part · introduced · 119th Congress
  • S 3937 Homes for American Families Act Amends its part · introduced · 119th Congress
  • S 1060 AMERICA Act Amends its part · introduced · 119th Congress
  • S 1059 One Agency Act Amends its part · introduced · 119th Congress
  • S 130 Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act of 2025 Amends · introduced · 119th Congress
  • S 2597 Digital Consumer Protection Commission Act of 2023 Amends its part · introduced · 118th Congress
  • HR 3081 NOPEC Amends its part · introduced · 118th Congress
  • S 1073 AMERICA Act Amends its part · introduced · 118th Congress
  • S 678 NOPEC Amends its part · introduced · 118th Congress
  • HR 7839 Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act Amends its part · introduced · 117th Congress
  • HR 7101 Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act of 2022 Amends · introduced · 117th Congress
  • S 977 NOPEC Amends its part · introduced · 117th Congress
  • S 4796 Local News and Broadcast Media Preservation Act of 2022 Amends · introduced · 117th Congress
  • S 4258 Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act Amends its part · introduced · 117th Congress
  • S 3847 Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act of 2022 Amends · introduced · 117th Congress
  • S 3267 Consolidation Prevention and Competition Promotion Act of 2021 Amends · introduced · 117th Congress
  • HR 2926 One Agency Act Amends its part · introduced · 117th Congress
  • S 2039 TEAM Act Amends · introduced · 117th Congress
  • HR 2393 NOPEC Amends its part · introduced · 117th Congress
  • S 1074 Trust-Busting for the Twenty-First Century Act Amends its part · introduced · 117th Congress
  • S 633 One Agency Act Amends its part · introduced · 117th Congress
  • S 225 Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act of 2021 Amends · introduced · 117th Congress
  • HR 948 NOPEC Amends its part · introduced · 116th Congress
  • S 370 NOPEC Amends its part · introduced · 116th Congress
  • S 307 Consolidation Prevention and Competition Promotion Act of 2019 Amends · introduced · 116th Congress
  • HR 5904 NOPEC Amends its part · introduced · 115th Congress
  • HR 5630 Economic Freedom and Financial Security for Working People Act of 2018 Amends · introduced · 115th Congress
  • HR 5642 Restoring and Improving Merger Enforcement Act of 2018 Amends · introduced · 115th Congress
  • S 2847 Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules Act of 2018 Amends its part · introduced · 115th Congress
  • HR 5645 Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules Act of 2018 Amends its part · introduced · 115th Congress
  • HR 659 Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules Act of 2017 Amends its part · introduced · 115th Congress
  • S 1812 Consolidation Prevention and Competition Promotion Act of 2017 Amends · introduced · 115th Congress
  • HR 233 Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 Amends · introduced · 111th Congress

The law today

From the official United States Code, current through Public Law 119-121.

No person engaged in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce shall acquire, directly or indirectly, the whole or any part of the stock or other share capital and no person subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission shall acquire the whole or any part of the assets of another person engaged also in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce, where in any line of commerce or in any activity affecting commerce in any section of the country, the effect of such acquisition may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly. No person shall acquire, directly or indirectly, the whole or any part of the stock or other share capital and no person subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission shall acquire the whole or any part of the assets of one or more persons engaged in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce, where in any line of commerce or in any activity affecting commerce in any section of the country, the effect of such acquisition, of such stocks or assets, or of the use of such stock by the voting or granting of proxies or otherwise, may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly. This section shall not apply to persons purchasing such stock solely for investment and not using the same by voting or otherwise to bring about, or in attempting to bring about, the substantial lessening of competition. Nor shall anything contained in this section prevent a corporation engaged in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce from causing the formation of subsidiary corporations for the actual carrying on of their immediate lawful business, or the natural and legitimate branches or extensions thereof, or from owning and holding all or a part of the stock of such subsidiary corporations, when the effect of such formation is not to substantially lessen competition. Nor shall anything herein contained be construed to prohibit any common carrier subject to the laws to regulate commerce from aiding in the construction of branches or short lines so located as to become feeders to the main line of the company so aiding in such construction or from acquiring or owning all or any part of the stock of such branch lines, nor to prevent any such common carrier from acquiring and owning all or any part of the stock of a branch or short line constructed by an independent company where there is no substantial competition between the company owning the branch line so constructed and the company owning the main line acquiring the property or an interest therein, nor to prevent such common carrier from extending any of its lines through the medium of the acquisition of stock or otherwise of any other common carrier where there is no substantial competition between the company extending its lines and the company whose stock, property, or an interest therein is so acquired. Nothing contained in this section shall be held to affect or impair any right heretofore legally acquired: Provided, That nothing in this section shall be held or construed to authorize or make lawful anything heretofore prohibited or made illegal by the antitrust laws, nor to exempt any person from the penal provisions thereof or the civil remedies therein provided. Nothing contained in this section shall apply to transactions duly consummated pursuant to authority given by the Secretary of Transportation, Federal Power Commission, Surface Transportation Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission in the exercise of its jurisdiction under section 79j of this title,1 the United States Maritime Commission, or the Secretary of Agriculture under any statutory provision vesting such power in such Commission, Board, or Secretary.
Official text at uscode.house.gov ↗