Washington, D.C. — Following news that the Department of Justice Antitrust Division has reached a settlement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Juniper Networks to clear the way for the $14 billion merger between the rival wireless networking firms, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“This woefully inadequate settlement is a stunning about-face on the eve of trial against a deal that the Antitrust Division leadership said themselves would increase ‘concentration in an already concentrated market,’ and result in many Americans ‘paying more for less,’” said Nidhi Hegde, Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project. “The agreement might as well have been written in the boardroom, allowing HPE to keep the core of Juniper’s business and its most strategic tech, while doing almost nothing to restore the competition this deal eliminates. This was a strong and winnable case that DOJ just abandoned, and raises doubts on whether the Division is serious about bringing and litigating new cases. Despite their initial pro-competition rhetoric, this kind of hollow settlement is more in line with the weak, corporate friendly enforcement of the Obama and Bush eras — not what you’d expect from a President that campaigned on economic populism.”

HPE’s proposed $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks would combine two of the three largest providers of enterprise wireless networking technology, leaving only Cisco as a meaningful competitor. The market for enterprise-grade wireless networking — used by businesses, hospitals, universities, and other institutions to power critical operations — is already a highly concentrated, with HPE, Juniper, and Cisco together controlling over 70% of the industry. The DOJ Antitrust Division initially brought a case against the deal in late January 2025, with leadership at the time saying that the deal would increase ‘concentration in an already concentrated market,’ and result in many Americans ‘paying more for less.’”

In a complaint filed in January 2025, the Justice Department noted that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE) and Juniper are the second- and third-largest providers of commercial or “enterprise” wireless networking solutions in the United States. According to the complaint, the acquisition would allow just two companies – Cisco and HPE – to control “well over 70 percent of the U.S. market and eliminate head-to-head competition” in the relevant market for “enterprise-grade WLAN solutions.” HPE and Juniper are fierce competitors in the relevant market, as evidenced by HPE’s pattern of offering significant discounts to win head-to-head matchups against Juniper. The Justice Department had also alleged that the loss of competition would increase the risk of coordination among remaining vendors, buttressing gross margins in the sector that are already “exceedingly high.” The Justice Department further noted that nothing about the merger was sufficient to offset threats to competition, and that high barriers to entry prevent any possibility of “timely, likely or sufficient” counters to the merger’s anticompetitive effects. The matter had been scheduled to go to trial on July 9, 2025 before Judge P. Casey Pitts in the Northern District of California.

Pursuant to a jointly-submitted Proposed Final Judgment filed on June 28, 2025, HPE would be required to divest a category of assets related to HPE’s “campus and branch business,” a narrower category of assets than the complained-of loss of competition across enterprise-grade WLAN solutions. Unlike other recent divestiture proposals, which invoke a necessary assessment of the adequacy and fitness of the divestiture buyer to ensure preservation of competition in the relevant market, no proposed divestiture buyer is named in the Proposed Final Judgment. The Justice Department would retain sole ongoing jurisdiction to vet any potential divestiture buyer, requiring the court to abdicate its authority to assess the adequacy of the divestiture buyer.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.