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Note: 

Virginia Bruce Hamilton, The Business Protection Act and the Control of Conglomerate Mergers, 58 TEXAS L. REV. 588 (1980). 

Antitrust regulation of business acquisitions has focused on competition within specific markets.  Federal antitrust law reflects a political conviction that the unrestrained operation of the market remains inadequate as an exclusive determinant of the structure of the American economy.  Given the oligopolistic structure of many important segments of American industry, the virtually unlimited potential for concentration through merger raises the need to decide whether additional antitrust regulations are a desirable means of controlling corporate mergers, and if so, whether the absolute size of firms is an appropriate index for that regulation.  The Small and Independent Business Protection Act of 1979 is an affirmative legislative response to these problems, prohibiting any merger between two companies, each of which has sales in excess of $2 billion.  This Note explores the economic and political implications of conglomerate mergers, urging exclusive reliance on the sale and spin-off divestiture concept exemplified in section (3).