§ 18.
No person engaged in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce shall acquire, directly or indirectly, the whole or any part of the stock or other share capital and no person subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission shall acquire the whole or any part of the assets of another person engaged also in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce, where in any line of commerce or in any activity affecting commerce in any section of the country, the effect of such acquisition may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly.
No person shall acquire, directly or indirectly, the whole or any part of the stock or other share capital and no person subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission shall acquire the whole or any part of the assets of one or more persons engaged in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce, where in any line of commerce or in any activity affecting commerce in any section of the country, the effect of such acquisition, of such stocks or assets, or of the use of such stock by the voting or granting of proxies or otherwise, may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly.
([Oct. 15, 1914, ch. 323, § 7], [38 Stat. 731]; [Dec. 29, 1950, ch. 1184], [64 Stat. 1125]; [Pub. L. 96–349, § 6(a)], Sept. 12, 1980, [94 Stat. 1157]; [Pub. L. 98–443, § 9](l), Oct. 4, 1984, [98 Stat. 1708]; [Pub. L. 104–88, title III, § 318(1)], Dec. 29, 1995, [109 Stat. 949]; [Pub. L. 104–104, title VI, § 601(b)(3)], Feb. 8, 1996, [110 Stat. 143].)