Lina Khan’s FTC era ends; Andrew Ferguson named chair
Andrew Ferguson, one of two Republican FTC commissioners appointed by U.S. President Joe Biden, will be the country’s next FTC chair, incoming president Donald Trump Tuesday on social media.
The news is being met with relief in some circles. Current FTC Chair Lina Khan was blamed by many in Silicon Valley for a dearth of M&A activity, with critics citing the cases the agency has brought against Big Tech companies under her leadership, which began in June, 2021.
Khan, whose term expired in September but who has remained in the role, sat down with TechCrunch last June, where she addressed some of those critics, saying: “[If] you are a startup or a founder that is eager for an acquisition as an exit, I would think that a world in which you have six or seven or eight potential suitors is a better world than one where you have just one or two.”
Ferguson, who was earlier a Congressional aide and Supreme Court clerk, will be “the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History,” Trump wrote Tuesday.
