Antitrust

On December 21, 2025, Clearwater Analytics (“CWAN”) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired in a transaction valued at approximately $8.4 billion by a Permira and Warburg Pincus‑led Investor Group (the “Investor Group”), with participation from Temasek. The Investor Group has key support from Francisco Partners. The Special Committee of the CWAN Board of Directors unanimously recommended this transaction and the CWAN Board of Directors subsequently approved this transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, CWAN stockholders will receive $24.55 per share in cash upon completion of the proposed transaction. Cravath is representing the Special Committee of the CWAN Board of Directors in connection with the transaction.

On December 11, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously affirmed the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s finding that Apple Inc. (“Apple”) committed civil contempt based on Apple’s willful violations of a permanent injunction that Cravath client Epic Games, Inc. (“Epic”) previously secured against Apple. The Court of Appeals affirmed several contempt sanctions imposed by the District Court against Apple, while modifying or reversing in part certain other sanctions and remanding to the District Court for further proceedings. The Court also unanimously affirmed the denial of Apple’s request to vacate or modify the permanent injunction based on recent California state court decisions and denied Apple’s request to reassign the case to a different district judge on remand.

On December 8, 2025, Paramount, a Skydance Corporation (“Paramount”), announced it has commenced an all-cash tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (“WBD”) for $30.00 per share in cash, equating to an enterprise value of $108.4 billion. Paramount’s proposed transaction is for the entirety of WBD, including the Global Networks segment. Cravath is representing Paramount in connection with the transaction.

On November 18, 2025, Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (“Axalta”) and Akzo Nobel N.V. announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine in an all‑stock merger of equals, creating a premier global coatings company with an enterprise value of approximately $25 billion. Cravath is representing Axalta in connection with the transaction.

On October 15, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota granted Cravath client Louis Dreyfus Company LLC’s (“LDC”) motion to dismiss more than fifty lawsuits in consolidated antitrust litigation alleging a nationwide conspiracy to fix sugar prices.

On December 9, 2025, Cravath partner Gary A. Bornstein was featured as a 2025 Competition MVP by Law360, which highlighted his representation of Epic Games in separate antitrust lawsuits against Apple and Google, including securing a District Court decision that Apple violated an anti‑steering injunction, and a victory at the Ninth Circuit affirming Epic Games’ antitrust trial victory and permanent injunction against Google. In the profile, Gary discussed the satisfaction of winning difficult cases, explaining it’s “always a more gratifying victory when the outcome is not assured.” Gary also addressed the challenges of antitrust work, noting that antitrust issues are “company‑defining” and that “working as outside counsel on those cases is really counseling the senior people at the company on issues that go to the heart of their business. It requires you to have a commercial perspective on what's going on.” 

On November 28, 2025, Cravath’s antitrust practice was ranked among the “Elite” in Global Competition Review’s 2026 edition of GCR 100, a guide to the world’s best competition practices. This is the fourteenth consecutive year the Firm has been ranked in the highest tier among New York Firms by GCR. The publication highlighted Cravath as a “premier choice for major antitrust litigation, enforcement actions and high‑profile transactional matters,” noting its representations of clients including Corteva in antitrust litigation brought by the FTC and related putative class actions; Elsevier in putative class action antitrust litigation; Epic Systems in an action filed by Particle Health; and Wiz on antitrust matters in connection with its $32 billion acquisition by Google.

Cravath partner Margaret T. Segall and of counsel Nicole M. Peles authored a chapter entitled “Navigating the Complex Landscape of Merger Remedies in Dynamic Industries: Insights from Antitrust Authorities” for Global Competition Review’s “Merger Remedies Guide – Sixth Edition,” published on October 31, 2025. The chapter discusses common types of merger remedies, the challenges they face in dynamic industries including the pharmaceutical/biotechnology and technology sectors and the different approaches antitrust authorities use to address them.  

On November 10, 2025, Cravath published the latest edition of its Quarterly Review, which provides insight into practical points, key takeaways and relevant developments across the M&A, activism, restructuring, regulatory and corporate governance landscape. This edition covers:

On October 23, 2025, Cravath partner Andrew C. Finch participated in the Global Competition Review Live: Global Merger Control 2025 conference, which was held from October 23‑24 in Brussels, Belgium. The conference brought together practitioners, including private practice lawyers, government representatives and in‑house counsel from more than 20 countries, to debate and analyze the latest major developments in merger control. Andrew was featured in a fireside chat alongside Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Melissa Holyoak.