U.S. says seven board directors resigned under antitrust pressure (updated)

CTS

19/10/2022 20:16

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       WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Seven members of board of
directors at five companies have resigned because of the U.S.
Justice Department's antitrust concerns over the directors
holding similar board positions at rival companies, the
department said on Wednesday.
    The U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division said in a
statement that it planned to reinvigorate enforcement of rules
that do not allow people to serve on the boards of companies
that compete against each other.
    "Competitors sharing officers or directors further
concentrates power and creates the opportunity to exchange
competitively sensitive information and facilitate coordination
– all to the detriment of the economy and the American public,"
said Jonathan Kanter, head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust
Division, in a statement.
    Three directors resigned from the board of IT management
software company SolarWinds Corp  SWI.N , one because the person
was on the boards of both SolarWinds and rival Dynatrace  DT.N 
as a representative of the private equity company Thoma Bravo.
Two others representing Thoma Bravo on the SolarWinds board also
resigned, the department said.
    None of the three companies immediately responded to a
request for comment.
    There has been pressure for years for the agencies to be
more aggressive in enforcing rules about interlocking
directorates because of fears that people will share
competitively sensitive information or not have incentive to
compete.
    A director also resigned from education software company
Udemy Inc's  UDMY.O  board of directors because of concerns that
the person represented technology investment company Prosus
 PRX.AS  on both Udemy's board and the board of rival Skillsoft
Corp  SKIL.N , the department said.
    Directors also resigned from the board of Definitive
Healthcare  DH.O , Redwire Corp  RDW.N  and CTS Corp  CTS.N 
because they were on the boards of competing companies, the
department said.
    None of the companies contacted responded to a request for
comment.
 (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Josie Kao)
 ((Diane.Bartz@thomsonreuters.com; 1 202 898 8313;))