The Justice Department introduced immediately that two administrators of Epic Games Inc. (Epic), who had been appointed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. (Tencent), resigned from the Epic board after the Antitrust Division expressed considerations that their positions on each the Epic and Tencent boards violated Section 8 of the Clayton Act. Tencent owns a minority curiosity in Epic. The interlock was created as a result of Tencent is also the father or mother firm of a gaming competitor to Epic, Riot Games Inc. Tencent additionally determined to amend its shareholder settlement with Epic to relinquish its unilateral proper to nominate administrators or observers to the Epic board sooner or later. This is the most recent of the division’s ongoing Section 8 enforcement efforts, which to this point have unwound or prevented interlocks involving no less than two dozen corporations.
“Scrutiny round interlocking directorates continues to be an enforcement precedence for the Antitrust Division,” mentioned Deputy Director of Civil Enforcement Miriam R. Vishio of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Due to the laborious work of our great employees, our elevated enforcement round Section 8 over the previous couple of years has achieved substantial outcomes and turn into a part of our cloth.”
Section 8, which Congress made a per se violation of the antitrust legal guidelines, prohibits administrators and officers from serving concurrently on the boards of opponents, topic to restricted exceptions. No firm or particular person has admitted to legal responsibility in reference to this investigation. The division will proceed to watch the trade, and different industries, for violations of the antitrust legal guidelines, together with Section 8.
Tencent is without doubt one of the largest multimedia and online game corporations on the earth. It is included and domiciled within the Cayman Islands and has its headquarters in Shenzhen, China. Tencent owns Riot, is a minority shareholder in Epic and has fairness investments in different online game and media corporations.
Epic is a privately held online game and software program developer and writer based mostly in Cary, North Carolina.
Riot is an American online game developer, writer, and esports match organizer with headquarters in Los Angeles.
Anyone with details about potential interlocking directorates or some other potential violations of the antitrust legal guidelines is inspired to contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258 or antitrust.complaints@usdoj.gov.
