United States of America: Department of Justice filed lawsuit against Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks over alleged violation of Section 7 of Clayton Act relating to proposed acquisition

On 30 January 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in the District Court for the Northern District of California to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s proposed USD 14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. It argues that the deal would violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. § 18) by significantly reducing competition in the market for enterprise-grade wireless LAN (WLAN) solutions. According to the complaint, HPE and Juniper are currently the second and third-largest providers of enterprise wireless networking products (sold under the HPE Aruba and Juniper Mist brands). Allowing the acquisition would leave only two large companies, Cisco and HPE, with a combined share of over 70 percent of the US market, and would remove the direct competition between HPE and Juniper.