U.S. intelligence officials intervened with the Department of Justice to push through a merger between Hewlett Packard and Juniper Networks, Axios reported, citing Trump administration officials.
The intelligence community persuaded the Justice Department to approve Hewlett Packard's $13 billion takeover of Juniper, arguing it was essential to helping businesses compete with China's Huawei Technologies, Axios reported.
"In light of significant national security concerns, a settlement ... serves the interests of the United States by strengthening domestic capabilities and is critical to countering Huawei and China," a senior national security official told Axios.
Had the deal been blocked, it would've "hindered American companies and empowered" Chinese competitors, the official told Axios.
The Justice Department "works very closely with our partners in the intelligence community and always considers their views when deciding how best to proceed with a case," a spokesperson told Axios.
After President Donald Trump took office, the Justice Department sued to block the deal, alleging it would harm competition in the market for wireless networking solutions used by large enterprises. HP Enterprise then started negotiating the deal with the DOJ in March.
Ahead of a scheduled trial, the DOJ agreed to drop its claims in exchange for HP Enterprise agreeing to license some of Juniper's AI technology to competitors and sell off a unit that caters to small and mid-sized businesses.
Following the settlement, two senior Justice Department antitrust officials were fired amid infighting over the merger policy, Bloomberg reported.
Four Democrat senators have called on the federal judge overseeing the merger case to hold a hearing on whether the settlement is in public interest.
The senators want a judge to probe whether companies hired consultants to lobby the White House in support of the deal and failed to disclose them.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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