“Consumers are better off without this deal,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the department’s Antitrust Division.  “Our investigation convinced us – and the parties knew or should have known from the get go – that the market is not functioning competitively today, and further consolidation would only make things worse.”

The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the canned tuna market is dominated by three companies: the aforementioned Chicken of the Sea and Bumblebee, as well as Starkist.