Press Release: 10/16/2025

AG Campbell Seeks To Intervene To Ensure Transparency Of DOJ Settlement Of HPE/Juniper Networks Merger

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

10/16/2025

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Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary

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Call Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543

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Email Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary at Sydney.Heiberger@mass.gov

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell joined a coalition of 13 attorneys general in filing a motion to intervene to participate in the Court’s review of the $14 billion merger settlement between Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) and Juniper Networks that was publicly reported to be the result of undue influence by well-connected lobbyists. 

In light of public reports of significant concerns about the creation and substance of the HPE/Juniper Networks settlement, the coalition is urging the court to apply its authority under the federal Tunney Act to order an evidentiary hearing in which the states can appear as parties. The Tunney Act is a post-Watergate law enacted by Congress in 1974 to ensure that antitrust settlements reached by the Justice Department are based on the merits and in the public interest, rather than undue influence by powerful corporations and their well-connected lobbyists. 

Last month, AG Campbell joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general in sending a letter to the Justice Department opposing the settlement after public reporting indicated that the final product was driven by improper influence peddling at the highest levels of the department rather than antitrust concerns. Moreover, the settlement appeared to implement wholly deficient remedies that would not address the anticompetitive harms alleged by the Justice Department in their complaint seeking to block the merger. 

The coalition of attorneys general, who are joint enforcers of the federal antitrust laws, are now asking the Court to grant their motion to intervene in the case, arguing that the States have a strong interest in ensuring that antitrust settlements are in the public interest and in preventing unlawful mergers from harming their citizens. Without the States’ intervention, the coalition explains, the only parties present will be those that support the settlement, and the Court would hear a one-sided argument.  

Joining AG Campbell in filing the motion are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin.