Lina Khan, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reminds us of Figma’s recent successful IPO. For her, it’s a hearty kibosh on the aggressive deal-by-deal review now ubiquitous in mergers and acquisitions (M&A.) Khan sees Figma’s initial success in the public market as evidence that tough regulatory oversight is effective. This careful oversight protects consumers and businesses alike from unfair competition and monopolistic practices. Her opening salvo highlights the continuing tug-of-war over how much government should interfere with corporate deal-making.
Khan's perspective highlights the importance of the FTC's role in evaluating potential mergers and acquisitions to safeguard market competition. She wants us to take a hard look at these agreements. This kind of scrutiny is important to ensure that, through monopolies or oligopolies, innovation suffers and consumers are hurt as a result. In her opinion, Figma’s IPO is the testament of an organic success story. With the issuance of these recent help recognizing this, the need for continued robust and careful regulatory oversight.
The successful IPO of Figma, the collaborative design software company, has placed it in the spotlight, onlookers ranging from VCs to regulators. Khan’s comments explicitly draw the link between Figma’s great market performance and the larger conversation around increased M&A scrutiny. She suggests that the company's ability to succeed as a standalone entity supports the argument for careful evaluation of proposed mergers and acquisitions.
While the former FTC chair’s comments should lead to meaningful discussions. We need to strike the appropriate balance between encouraging innovation and discouraging anti-competitive conduct. Consumers deserve better, and advocates for stronger M&A enforcement are right—we need it. They think that this will make for a fairer playing field for companies of all sizes. Khan’s comments surely inject new energy into that debate. According to her, one important example shows why statutory or regulatory oversight is needed to prevent toxic outcomes through market determination.
