Once under common ownership, the record company and retailer are now independent, sharing only ownership of the picture.

The watchdog concluded what airlines had been saying for years: common ownership has been bad for competition and has made passengers' experience at airports worse.

The existing management team would be kept on and the two companies operated as separate operations with common ownership.

There are no clear synergies available from a merger, and even under common ownership the two would have to operate as separate entities.

In making this determination, courts consider factors such as interrelation of operations, common management, centralized control over labor relations and personnel, and common ownership or financial control.