In an unusual turn of events, the CMA prohibited the Sabre/Farelogix merger only two days after a U.S. federal court rejected the DOJ’s attempt to block the transaction. The decision demonstrates the CMA’s willingness to take a bold stance even when reviewing a merger that lacks an obvious jurisdictional link to the UK, and in the face of a conflicting litigated outcome in a U.S. court. Sabre/Farelogix also serves as a stark reminder of the increased focus by antitrust regulators on the importance of innovation in the technology sector, and on the protection of “nascent competition”, as well as the practical impact of the antitrust conceptions of “two-sided markets” in the UK and in the U.S.