Justice Department Requires Divestitures and Licensing Commitments in HPE’s Acquisition of Juniper Networks

WASHINGTON — Achieving a result otherwise unavailable through litigation, earlier today the Justice Department advised the court it had reached a settlement with HPE and Juniper that allows their merger to continue. This novel approach by the Justice Department reflects a commitment to solving unique challenges in mergers. Under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi the laws of this country will be zealously enforced.

“Thank you to the hardworking men and woman of the Antitrust Division for their work on this case.” — Gail Slater, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Divison

“This marks another key legal victory from the Department of Justice’s Antitrust division. Our attorneys will continue fighting and winning to defend the American people and consumers.” — Department of Justice Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle

The settlement requires HPE to divest its Instant On business and mandates that the merged firm license critical Juniper software to independent competitors. HPE must divest its global “Instant On” campus and branch WLAN business, including all assets, intellectual property, R&D personnel, and customer relationships, to a DOJ-approved buyer within 180 days. The agreement also ensures that key software assets will be available to rivals looking to compete with the merged company. The parties must hold an auction to license Juniper’s AI Ops for Mist source code—an important component in modern WLAN systems. The license will be perpetual, non-exclusive, and include optional transitional support and personnel transfers to facilitate competition.