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Dear Friend,
As you’ve probably already seen, corporate consolidation was thrust into the spotlight when ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air following comments about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. After threats from Trump’s FCC, Disney (which is pushing a merger involving sports streamer Fubo) and Nexstar (which is trying to get its $6.2 billion Tegna takeover through the FCC) took the late-night host off the air. Kimmel has since been reinstated [[link removed]] , and Nexstar and Sinclair ABC affiliates have backed down [[link removed]] after initially refusing to air the show.
The incident, which occurred mere days after our 2025 Anti-Monopoly Summit [[link removed]] , is a clear illustration of how and why consolidated corporate power is fundamentally at odds [[link removed]] with democracy. When control over media and speech is concentrated in the hands of a few corporate leaders, who are looking to please a President who wields power over their dealmaking ability, they are going to capitulate every time. As Economic Liberties Research Director Matt Stoller told MSNBC’s Ali Veshi [[link removed]] , “ The thing about consolidation is that it's like leaving a loaded gun around for political leaders to use.”
If you were one of the more than 320 people who attended the Summit in-person or the nearly 15,000 who watched it [[link removed]] online [[link removed]] , then you know this tension between economic concentration and democracy was a key focal point. Our panel [[link removed]] with Zephyr Teachout and Jesse Eisinger touched on it directly [[link removed]] , literally the day before ABC suspended Kimmel.
The 2025 Summit brought together leading policymakers — including progressives, New Dems, and former Republican regulators & enforcers — with experts, advocates, labor leaders, and business owners. We even hosted a number of law students and undergraduates from across the country. Speakers discussed how a consolidated economic environment and corrupt political landscape pose challenges to the economy and labor market — and how to respond. Our overflow seating was used throughout the entire event, and the energy was palpable.
As many of our speakers noted, this is a challenging moment for our movement. However, what became clear over the two days of programming and coalition-building was that the only substantive way to fight back against an administration largely walking hand-in-hand with monopolists is a return to a robust economic populist agenda. As Senator Chris Murphy said during his fireside chat [[link removed]] with Saagar Enjeti , we have a clear “opportunity to pull people out of ideological rabbit holes…and get them talking to each other in a way that could be healing.”
This was a through-line across our robust line up of programming, which covered food, healthcare, utilities, tech, airlines, and more.
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Here are some of the highlights:
Healthcare [[link removed]] : We heard from independent physicians on the horror of private equity ownership, and [[link removed]] rousing remarks [[link removed]] from former DOJ AAG Jonathan Kanter on the need to put power back in the hands of providers and patients. Dr. Alex Oshmyansky , founder of Cost Plus Drugs, broke down how his company is fighting back against PBM middlemen to lower drug prices and, in her acceptance speech of our Economic Liberty Award, surgeon-turned-advocate Dr. Elisabeth Potter [[link removed]] shared patient horror stories [[link removed]] from this era of Big Medicine and urged structural reform.
Utilities [[link removed]] : The shockingly high price of electricity is on everyone’s mind. Our panel on the topic was a hot ticket, with Rep. Josh Riley , Republican utilities regulator Travis Kavulla , and Sr. Fellow Mark Ellis agreeing on the need to reduce overgrown investor payouts to lower rates for consumers. Rep. Riley also [[link removed]] shared the story [[link removed]] of how he personally intervened in the utility rate-setting process, offering a model other elected officials can follow to confront this exploding household expense.
Housing [[link removed]] : The rent is too damn high. So is the cost of buying a home. Our panel, ably helmed by New York Times Economics Reporter Talmon Joseph Smith , demonstrated how financialization and corporate consolidation result in less building and enable higher rents in multiple ways, including algorithmic collusion.
Food [[link removed]] : Consolidation and extraction up and down the food supply chain—from seed and fertilizer to meatpacking—is making it hard for the businesses that feed America to survive. Moderated by former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya , panelists representing frontline workers, farmers, and independent grocers spoke to the ways in which these big firms weaponize their power, the need to enforce antitrust laws such as the Robinson-Patman Act, and how mobilizing a united coalition across these verticals can build durable political power.
Trade and Manufacturing [[link removed]] : Amidst the blowback to Trump’s haphazard pay-to-play on-again, off-again tariffs, we can’t lose sight of the fact that making things in America matters. US manufacturing champions Rep. Chris Deluzio and Rep. Debbie Dingell made the political [[link removed]] and economic [[link removed]] cases clear on a panel hosted by Rethink Trade’s Lori Wallach . At the same time, China expert Rush Doshi [[link removed]] covered [[link removed]] the national security angle for restoring production while Ferrara Manufacturing CEO Joseph Ferrara , provided a rebuttal to some of Wall Street’s favorite misconceptions about the feasibility of manufacturing in America, including the ability to reskill workers, and design and produce high-end products in New York.
AI & Innovation [[link removed]] : The Verge reporter Lauren Feiner moderated a superstar panel on the stakes of Big Tech companies’ scramble to control the AI market. Biden DOJ Acting Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki warned about how "AI is having its NAFTA moment” where in the service of an AI race, all kinds of compromises are being made. Rep. Becca Balint talked about taking back control from tech companies who are trying to dictate what legislation gets passed under the guise of advancing innovation. And former Trump DOJ official Roger Alford made waves with some [[link removed]] strong criticism [[link removed]] of the Trump Administration officials selling out antitrust enforcement to corporate lobbyists.
In the packed breakout seminars, we heard over and over again from a wide range of market participants that the urgent problem they face is the arbitrary coercive power of a corporate monopolist.
As Senator Cory Booker said in one of the final speeches of the day, taking on consolidation and corruption is “not a left or right issue” but “a right or wrong issue.” The momentum for economic populism, which cuts across the political divide and is a unifying factor for so many Americans, is accelerating. An economically populist framework challenging dominant corporations is a winning agenda, as evidenced by recent polling [[link removed]] .
Former FTC Chair Lina Khan articulated the movement's grounding principles in her keynote remarks saying, “ At its core, antimonopoly is a governing philosophy. It views concentrations of power as a threat to freedom, recognizing that tyranny comes in many guises. And it recognizes that securing democratic checks against this power is vital for securing real freedom for people—freedom from the arbitrary exercise of coercive power, as well as the freedom to build a life of one’s choosing.”
Whether you were at the Summit or not, we hope you take some time to engage with the social content [[link removed]] we posted, or read one of the [[link removed]] many [[link removed]] articles [[link removed]] that the dozens of journalists in attendance wrote, or reach out to share your story. A special shoutout goes to Matt Stoller and David Dayen’s podcast Organized Money [[link removed]] , which was on the ground for most of the day, interviewing the many talented speakers we had.
And if you are feeling down in this decidedly grim moment for our country, I will leave you with the bracing closing words of former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra : “The time for sulking is over. The time to act is now. The time to lead is now. So saddle up, get to work, and never ever surrender.”
Onwards,
Nidhi Hegde
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