Lina Khan (35), the head of the US competition authority FTC, has lost her job. The President-Elect Donald Trump (78) appointed Andrew Ferguson as the new head of the Federal Agency for Competition and Consumer Protection on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday night, as reported by the Bloomberg agency
.
Khan’s departure had been expected since Trump was re-elected president in November USA was chosen. As a monopoly hunter, Khan is one of the most powerful but also controversial officials in the USA – and the tech industry’s favorite enemy
. Khan openly called for the breakup of monopoly corporations and blocked corporate takeovers worth billions of dollars. With sensational lawsuits against tech companies Amazon above Nvidia until Google it developed into the enemy of Silicon Valley.
US President Joe Biden (82) made her the youngest FTC head of all time in 2021, when she was just 32 years old at the time. Since the beginning of her term in office, she has unleashed a veritable avalanche of litigation. Among other things, Khan sued against the $69 billion takeover of the gaming company Activision Blizzard Microsoft. She was also involved in the US Department of Justice’s decision to take a closer look at the interaction between Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia, which recently caused Nvidia’s share price to plummet by almost $280 billion in one fell swoop.
Her successor, Andrew Ferguson, is already one of the FTC’s five commissioners and is a Republican. He previously served as Virginia’s attorney general, representing the state in major court cases. As FTC commissioner, Ferguson voted against several of Khan’s regulatory efforts, including a ban on non-compete clauses in employment contracts and rules making it easier to cancel subscriptions.
“Andrew has proven that he stands up to Big Tech’s censorship and protects free speech in our great country,” Trump said on his social network. “Andrew will be the most pro-America and pro-innovation FTC chairman in our country’s history.”
According to Wedbush analysts, the change in power at the antitrust regulator will mean one thing above all for the tech industry: more deals. “We expect Ferguson to continue to keep a keen eye on the tech world and the antitrust whirlwind. But he will clearly reverse Khan’s head-scratching anti-tech agenda.” This refers to Khan’s efforts to regulate AI, as well as the high standards for mergers of all sizes in the tech world. Khan will be fired at a crucial time in the AI arms race, it said. Mergers and acquisitions would increase and the strong ones – Microsoft, Oracle, Alphabet, Amazon and Tesla – become even stronger.
According to The Verge, Ferguson wants, among other things, to “reverse Lina Khan’s anti-business agenda,” “hold Big Tech accountable and stop censorship,” and “protect free speech and combat wokeness.” In a post on X he explained. “We will ensure America is a world leader in technology and the best place for innovators to bring new ideas to life.”
Ferguson will take up his new position as FTC chief on the first day of Trump’s term in office, as the re-elected US president explained.