Antitrust Radar
Competition InsightsAR-CI-2026-07 / Domain readout

Federal merger activity / dispatch 07

Reported HSR volume and the Second Request rate both moved lower in FY2025.

Two federal program measures preserve their fiscal-year denominator and procedural meaning without converting review activity into a judgment about transactions or agency performance.
Current readout2 of 2 lower
Exact signals
2
FY2025 HSR measures
Entities
1
within declared frames
Public sources
1
linked custody rows
Latest anchor
2025
intervals vary
0 increased 2 decreased

Interpretation boundaryHSR transaction counts and Second Request rates describe a federal notification and review pipeline. They do not measure merger harm, deterrence, legal merit, agency quality, or competitive outcomes.

Evidence standard

Evidence reading

What the current rows establish.

3 bounded findings / 2 exact signals
  1. 01

    Reported transaction volume edged lower.

    Reported HSR transactions moved from 2,031 in FY2024 to 2,006 in FY2025 (-25 transactions).

    1 supporting signal
  2. 02

    The Second Request rate also moved lower.

    Second Request rate moved from 3.0% in FY2024 to 2.1% in FY2025 (-0.90 percentage points).

    1 supporting signal
  3. 03

    The two declines do not explain one another.

    Transaction volume and the share receiving Second Requests have separate numerators, denominators, and possible drivers. Transaction mix, thresholds, exemptions, clearance, and agency allocation remain necessary context.

    2 supporting signals

Exact comparisons

Inspect every prior and latest anchor.

Observed change fieldEach row retains its own unit and scale
  1. Hart-Scott-Rodino programReview rateFY20243.000%FY20252.100%-0.900 ppDecrease
  2. Hart-Scott-Rodino programTransaction volumeFY20242,031FY20252,006-25Decrease

Analysis lab

Open the bounded instruments behind this dispatch.

4 declared routes / 2 signals
  1. 01

    VizBuilder figure

    HSR transaction volume

    Reported federal premerger transactions by fiscal year through FY2025.Notifications are not a census of every U.S. merger or a measure of merger harm.
  2. 02

    VizBuilder figure

    Second Request rate

    Second Request investigations as a share of adjusted HSR transactions by fiscal year.A Second Request is a review-stage event, not a finding that a transaction was anticompetitive.
  3. 03

    Exact relationship

    Volume and review-rate relationship

    Exact same-fiscal-year HSR transaction and Second Request-rate pairs.The relationship does not show that filing volume causes review intensity or measures agency performance.
  4. 04

    Source workspace

    Federal merger activity atlas

    Annual volume, review funnel, monthly notifications, and transaction-size context.Program activity is procedural context and does not measure competitive outcomes.

Evidence ledger

Values, custody, and continuation routes.

Scroll horizontally to inspect all columns.
Merger review signal membership table. Values retain their source unit and period basis.
Entity / metricPriorLatestChangeSourceContinue
Hart-Scott-Rodino programSecond Request rate3.000%FY20242.100%FY2025-0.900 ppDecreaseFederal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justiceftc-doj-hsr-report-2025
VizBuilder Source system
Hart-Scott-Rodino programReported HSR transactions2,031FY20242,006FY2025-25DecreaseFederal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justiceftc-doj-hsr-report-2025
VizBuilder Source system

Research handoff

The dispatch ends where investigation should begin.

How did transaction size, industry mix, thresholds, exemptions, clearance, agency allocation, and review practice change across the two fiscal years?
  1. Hart-Scott-Rodino programHow did transaction mix, clearance, adjusted denominators, and agency review practice change alongside the observed rate?
  2. Hart-Scott-Rodino programHow did filing mix, transaction size, thresholds, exemptions, and macroeconomic conditions change alongside notification volume?

Source custody

Public records behind this dispatch.

1 source
  1. 01
    48th Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report (FY 2025)Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice / accessed July 18, 2026
    Source dossier

Publication record

Cite this dispatch as a versioned research object.

current edition
Competition InsightsAR-CI-2026-07Version 1.0
Author
Antitrust Radar Research Team
Published
Updated
Sources checked
Antitrust Radar Research Team. (2026, August 12). Reported HSR volume and the Second Request rate both moved lower in FY2025.. Competition Insights, AR-CI-2026-07 (Version 1.0). Antitrust Radar. https://antitrustradar.org/insights/federal-merger-review-pipeline-fy2025
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