It's plausible that Hawk Carlisle (who wouldn't kill to have that Nickname?) could have used this dissection of the FTC and their approach to M&A in Defense World as a Case Study for our little display company..."Infinite Bureaucracy", brilliant phrase...

Somebody mentioned a cash raise and here Hawk says small, innovative companies are compromised by their desire to innovate and pretty much held at knifepoint to obtain the cash to continue to do so. I asked Lucas after what was seen as a disastrous raise and he plaintively said  "It was the best we could do".

 

Merging with, acquiring eMagin's Defense Business, would give a Elbit or Harris or any Defense Prime a Monopoly on this technology but would guarantee it's survival which more than a few times in the near past has seemed in doubt. It's obvious now that without the "end run" the DPA engineered the company would be defunct.

"There must be assurance that the FTC will regulate mergers fairly and accordingly with its mission, as well as with the realities of international competition. Without it, companies will be leery of mergers. This, in turn, will stifle American innovation and damage our economy and national security. Smaller companies with breakthrough technologies will have a harder time securing the capital and resources that larger companies provide to develop and deliver those technologies".

Even more concerning is that an anti-M&A attitude by the FTC is generating a reluctance to make investments that shore up supply chain risk and is potentially exposing portions of the defense-industrial base to adversary capital. This puts modernization and, ultimately, our nation’s war fighters and national security at risk."

https://www.federaltimes.com/opinion/commentary/2021/07/16/the-ftcs-take-on-vertical-mergers-acquisitions-is-misguided/