Case C-595/18 P The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. v European Commission, Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (Second Chamber) of 27 January 2021
The jurisprudence of the EU Courts in reconciling corporate law doctrines on parent company liability with EU competition law doctrines has developed mostly in the context of strategic investors. The increase in financial investors in the last decade has forced the EU Courts to adapt the earlier jurisprudence to situations where the parent company is primarily interested in the financial performance of the subsidiaries rather than the daily operations. Goldman Sachs v Commission represents another step in the attempt to develop clear rules for when the anti-competitive conduct of portfolio companies can be imputed to their financial investors. Unfortunately, the case failed to provide such needed guidance.