in late December. The companies agreed to give DOJ until July 26 — though that can always be extended — to decide whether to sue, some of the people said. The companies’ lawyers are expected to meet with antitrust division leadership, including Kanter, this Friday in a final attempt to secure approval of the deal, those people also said.
The DOJ’s review is focused largely on the overlap in the CIAM market between ForgeRock and Ping, which are both smaller than the sector leader Okta. SailPoint meanwhile is focused on companies’ internal management of their employees’ identity and access, in which ForgeRock and Ping also compete. The DOJ has also asked questions about SailPoint in its review of the ForgeRock deal, some of the people said, but the extent of the focus there is unclear.
The companies are also pointing to a dynamic market in which large customers often use multiple providers at once, which can include IBM, Oracle, Broadcom and Salesforce, according to a document summarizing the companies’ arguments seen by POLITICO. Depending on how the market is defined, Ping and ForgeRock’s combined share is as little as 9 percent, according to the document.