The Justice Department won a major battle in its antimerger campaign. In Manhattan's U.S. district court last week, Judge Edward Weinfeld banned the merger of Bethlehem Steel and Youngstown Sheet and Tube, one of the biggest deals in industrial history. It was the first court test of a Government suit under the Clayton Antitrust Act since it was amended in 1950 to make it tougher.
The companies' chief argument was that a merger would actually increase competition. By combining Youngstown's Midwestern plants with Bethlehem's strength on the coasts, the companies said, they could better compete with U.S. Steel, which has...
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