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The EU has approved the Gillette/P&G merger. It all came down to toothbrushes. To placate the Eurocrats, P&G decided to sell its SpinBrush line of battery toothbrushes. Otherwise, the combined P&G and Gillette would have over half the European toothbrush market.

The Europeans concern isn’t that consumers might be harmed, but that P&G/Gillette’s competitors will be harmed. We—meaning the U.S.—used to believe that “portfolio effects” were important, but we gradually learned that it simply doesn’t hurt consumers. The Europeans still hold to this theory, and it’s what led the EU to block the GE/Honeywell deal four years ago.

Posted by edelfenbein at July 15, 2005 2:18 PM