FTC Competition Chief Vedova to Retire in Opportunity for Khan

Holly Vedova, the top competition official at the US Federal Trade Commission, will retire after more than 30 years with the agency, according to people familiar with the decision, a departure that will give Chair Lina Khan an opportunity to pick a key deputy on antitrust.

(Bloomberg) — Holly Vedova, the top competition official at the US Federal Trade Commission, will retire after more than 30 years with the agency, according to people familiar with the decision, a departure that will give Chair Lina Khan an opportunity to pick a key deputy on antitrust.

Vedova, who currently serves as the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, announced her resignation this week in a message to staff, without giving a date for her departure, the people said. They spoke anonymously since the decision was not yet public.

Khan named Vedova as the agency’s top competition staffer in June 2021. Before that, Vedova served as an adviser to then-FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra, who now heads the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and four other commissioners. She joined the agency in 1990.

The competition director heads the FTC’s merger and antitrust work, spearheading the agency’s teams of lawyers who handle probes and recommending which cases to litigate and which to settle.

Khan has taken a more aggressive approach to antitrust than her predecessors, particularly on mergers involving the tech giants. Vedova’s departure will give the FTC chair a chance to name a new competition director in line with her thinking.

The FTC unsuccessfully sued to block Meta Platforms Inc. from buying a virtual reality startup. It has also challenged Microsoft Corp.’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc.

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