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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wants regulators to “scrutinize” Walmart’s (NYSE:WMT) planned $2.3 billion purchase of TV maker Vizio Holding (NYSE:VZIO).
“Walmart’s deal with @VIZIO is a warning bell,” Warren posted on X on Friday. “Giant corporations are copying @Amazon’s playbook: buy or kill competitors in commerce, entertainment, and advertising. Regulators should scrutinize whether this merger will extend Walmart’s dominance and threaten competition.”
Warren’s push for a review of the deal comes after Walmart (WMT) confirmed on Tuesday that it is acquiring Vizio (VZIO) for $11.50 per share in cash, which works out to a fully diluted equity value of approximately $2.3 billion.
Warren is a harsh critique of many deals and earlier this week came out against Capital One’s (COF) planned $35 billion acquisiton of Discover Financial (DFS), saying that transaction should be blocked.
Warren pushed back against Amazon’s (AMZN) planned $1.4 billion purchase of iRobot (IRBT) when it was first announced in September 2022 and last month Amazon (AMZN) walked away from the deal for the Roomba robot vacuum maker after it said it saw no path for the deal to be approved in Europe. The Federal Trade Commission also reportedly planned to sue to block the combination.
