Kostis Hatzitaskos

Senior Vice President

Contact

  • Chicago

Education

Kostis Hatzitaskos coheads Cornerstone Research’s antitrust and competition practice and serves on the firm’s executive committee. Dr. Hatzitaskos focuses on merger investigations, as well as antitrust litigation matters involving allegations of collusion, vertical restraints, and other allegedly anticompetitive behavior. For five consecutive years, Who’s Who Legal (now Lexology Index) recognized Dr. Hatzitaskos as a Future Leader in the competition field; Lexology Index has since recommended him as a leader among consulting experts and competition economists.

Dr. Hatzitaskos was the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) expert in its successful challenge to the proposed IQVIA/Propel Media merger and the abandoned WillScot/McGrath merger. He has also had leading roles on multiple cases that Global Competition Review has recognized with its Matter of the Year awards. These include Amazon/MGMEpic v. AppleT-Mobile/Sprint, and Disney/Fox.

Dr. Hatzitaskos’ industry experience includes distribution, enterprise and consumer information technology, entertainment, financial services, food and agriculture, healthcare, health insurance, high-tech consumer products, pharmaceuticals, retail industries, renewable energy, semiconductors, shipping, telecommunications, and video games.

Antitrust merger reviews

Dr. Hatzitaskos supports clients and experts in all phases of merger review. On behalf of government agencies, merging parties, and third parties, he has consulted on numerous high-profile matters, including many that reached the litigation phase.

Representative cases include leading roles for merging parties in First Advantage/Sterling Check, Alaska Airlines/Hawaiian Airlines, Meta/KustomerAmazon/MGMT-Mobile/SprintDisney/FoxCigna/ExpressScripts, and Sysco/US Foods. On behalf of the government, Dr. Hatzitaskos has testified for the FTC in IQVIA/Propel Media and held leading roles in Aetna/HumanaWilhelmsen/DrewMethodist/St. FrancisUS Foods/SGA, and Ball/Rexam, among others.

Antitrust and competition

Dr. Hatzitaskos has analyzed class certification, liability, and damages issues in high-profile competition matters. His expertise includes cases alleging cartel behavior, collusion, exclusionary conduct, anticompetitive bundling, price fixing, price manipulation, monopolization, and monopsonization.

Intellectual property

Dr. Hatzitaskos has worked on a range of intellectual property matters. He led a team supporting Dr. Matthew Lynde in the landmark Microsoft v. Motorola trial, which addressed the determination of reasonable and nondiscriminatory (RAND) royalty rates. He has analyzed alleged patent infringement cases involving smartphones and conducted damages analysis in alleged copyright infringement matters.

Thought leadership

Dr. Hatzitaskos has coauthored many publications on merger enforcement, economic methods, and the role of experts in antitrust and competition matters, including chapters in reference books and handbooks published by the Section of Antitrust Law of the American Bar Association (ABA). He currently serves on the editorial board of the ABA’s Antitrust Source.

A regular speaker and moderator at specialist and academic conferences, Dr. Hatzitaskos has participated in panels at Stanford, Fordham, Northwestern, and the George Washington University.

Case

In the Matter of WillScot and McGrath

Case

First Advantage/Sterling Check

Press Release

Gautam Gowrisankaran and Kostis Hatzitaskos Receive 2024 Antitrust Enforcement Award

Case

Alaska Airlines/Hawaiian Airlines Merger

Press Release

WWL: Competition—Economists 2024

Article

Selected Research and Writings of Nathan Miller

Event

2023 Merger Guidelines: Entrenchment, Extension, and Ecosystems

Press Release

Cornerstone Research Named Among 2024 Outstanding Global Economic Consultancies

  • “When the Crystal Ball Cracks: Why Are Divestitures Failing?,” GCR Live 5th Annual New York, 28 September 2017
  • “International Mergers: Working across Multiple Jurisdictions,” Global Antitrust Economics Conference, Concurrences Review and Northwestern University, 7 October 2016
  • “Choosing and Hiring an Economic Expert,” Fordham Competition Law Institute 2016, 21 September 2016
  • 2nd Competition and IP Policy in High-Technology Industries Conference, Cornerstone Research and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), 19 April 2016
  • “Applying Advanced Empirical Methods,” 42nd Annual Conference on International Antitrust Law and Policy, Fordham University School of Law, 30 September 2015