Microsoft, Amazon, big tech set to ‘accelerate’ deals with Khan departure: Wedbush

Christmas has come early for big tech.

That’s the prevailing sentiment from Wedbush Securities amid the news that President-elect Donald Trump named Andrew Ferguson to lead the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and replace Lina Khan as its chair. And while Ferguson is likely to have a “keen eye” on the tech world, he is expected to roll back much of Khan’s “head scratching anti-tech agenda,” Wedbush said.

“In essence, Christmas came early for the tech world as the Khan overhang is removed for the tech world at a key time in the AI arms race in which we expect the strong to get stronger as Mag 7 gets the engines started up again on M&A with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) set to accelerate deals to expand their technology moat,” Wedbush analysts led by Dan Ives wrote in a note to clients.

With Ferguson seen as “pro-innovation” (according to Trump’s announcement), this is a “huge positive for the tech world,” Wedbush analysts said. Additionally, the chance of breaking up tech companies goes down “significantly” with Khan’s departure, the analysts added.

“The DOJ investigations remain and will be a battle against tech in the courts but let’s be clear, today is a great day for the tech world and Silicon Valley with Khan finally gone from the FTC,” the analysts explained.

Wedbush previously said that the recent antitrust investigation by the FTC against Microsoft is “not a worry” with Khan leaving the government agency.