Evan Chesler Speaks at the 47th Annual Conference on International Antitrust Law and Policy

On July 1, 2020, PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas & Electric Company (together, “PG&E”) announced that PG&E has emerged from Chapter 11, successfully completing its restructuring process and implementing PG&E’s Plan of Reorganization that was confirmed by the United States Bankruptcy Court on June 20, 2020. Cravath has represented PG&E as corporate, financing and litigation counsel in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, as counsel in the arrangement of its Debtor‑in‑Possession financing, committed debt bridge financing, committed backstop equity financing and marketed equity exit financing, and in litigation related to the 2017 and 2018 Northern California Wildfires.

On January 15, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled in favor of Cravath client American Express Company (“AmEx”) in an antitrust suit brought by two putative classes of merchant plaintiffs: one purporting to represent a class of merchants that accept AmEx-branded cards and one purporting to represent a class of merchants that do not accept AmEx cards but accept Visa, Mastercard and Discover cards. On AmEx’s motion, the Court compelled arbitration of claims asserted by the putative class of AmEx-accepting merchants. The Court also granted AmEx’s motion to dismiss the claims of the non-AmEx accepting merchants.

On September 11, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of Cravath client Sabre Holdings Corporation (“Sabre”) in an antitrust suit brought by US Airways. Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Ohio v. American Express, which Cravath successfully litigated, the Second Circuit vacated a jury verdict against Sabre that had awarded $15 million in damages to US Airways, and remanded for a new trial.

On May 14, 2019, The Walt Disney Company (“Disney”) and Comcast Corporation (“Comcast”) announced that Disney will assume full operational control of Hulu, effective immediately, in return for Disney and Comcast entering into a “put/call” agreement regarding NBCUniversal’s 33% ownership interest in Hulu. Under the put/call agreement, as early as January 2024, Comcast can require Disney to buy NBCUniversal’s interest in Hulu and Disney can require NBCUniversal to sell that interest to Disney for its fair market value at that future time. Hulu’s fair market value will be assessed by independent experts but Disney has guaranteed a sale price for Comcast that represents a minimum total equity value of Hulu at that time of $27.5 billion. Cravath is representing Disney in connection with the transaction.