This is a pretty typical PE rollup, and it exploits a bug in US competition law called #AntitrustsTwilightZone:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/16/schumpeterian-terrorism/#deliberately-broken
When companies buy each other, they are subject to "#MergerScrutiny," a set of guidelines that the #FTC and #DoJAntitrustDivision use to determine whether the outcome is likely to be bad for competition.
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If we are to take the net back, we'll need to seize the means of computation. There are three steps to that process:
I. Traditional antitrust: #MergerScrutiny, breakups, and bans on predatory pricing and other anticompetitive practices:
II. Anti-twiddling laws for businesses: A federal privacy law with a private right of action, labor protections, and other rules that take knobs away from tech platforms:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/01/you-should-have-right-sue-companies-violate-your-privacy
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WASHINGTON – Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division launched a joint public inquiry aimed at strengthening enforcement against illegal mergers.
The most obvious problem here is with the #MergerScrutiny process, which is when competition regulators must be notified of proposed mergers and must give their approval before they can proceed. Under the #HartScottRodinoAct (#HSR) merger scrutiny kicks in for mergers when the purchase price is $101m or more. A company that builds up a monopoly by acquiring hundreds of small businesses need *never* face merger scrutiny.
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Cory Doctorow