Lina Khan’s FTC era is over; Andrew Ferguson was appointed president

Andrew Ferguson, one of two Republican Federal Trade Commission commissioners appointed by US President Joe Biden, will be the next head of the country’s Federal Trade Commission, new US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday on social media.

The news was met with relief in some quarters. Current FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan has been blamed by many in Silicon Valley for a dearth of M&A activity, with critics citing antitrust cases the agency brought against big tech companies under her leadership, which began in June 2021.

Khan, whose term ended in September but remained in office. He sat down With TechCrunch last June, she addressed some of these critics, saying: “[If] Whether you’re a startup or a founder eager to acquire as a director, I think a world in which you have six, seven or eight potential suitors is a better world than one in which you only have one or two.

Trump wrote Tuesday that Ferguson, who was previously a congressional aide and Supreme Court clerk, would be “the most ‘America First’ and most pro-innovation FTC Chairman in the history of our country.”