[JURIST] Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, the UK's Competition Commission [official website] has concluded that takeover bids from Euronext [corporate website] and Deutsche Boerse [corporate website] for the London Stock Exchange (LSE) [corporate website] would negatively affect competition. In its report, the commission said that either company would need to divest itself of its clearing services in order for its bid to be less negatively affect competition. In a press release, Deutsche Boerse said it considers itself to have an advantage over Euronext because "a discontinuation of clearing activities in general, an option mentioned by the Commission for both parties, is not an issue for Deutsche Börse." Eurnoext simply said, in its own press release, that it will continue to work with the Commission. Reuters has more.

In other corporations and securities law news…

• A judge in Washington state has blocked a former Microsoft [corporate website] executive from heading Google's new software research center in China [Google press release]. Microsoft sued Google and Kai-Fu Lee alleging that Lee was violating his employment contract with Microsoft. Google had earlier called the lawsuit a "a shocking display of hubris" on Microsoft's part. The judge ruled that Lee cannot work in any fields that compete with Microsoft in areas Lee studied while working at Microsoft. The ruling also forbade Google from trying to induce Microsoft employees to switch employers. Reuters has more.
• The influential Council of Institutional Investors [official website] will speak to Morgan Stanley [corporate website] over the lucrative severance packages the firm gave its outgoing CEO and other high-ranking executives. Ex-CEO Phillip Purcell left the company in June amid pressure from shareholders [JURIST report] with a $113 million severance package. The council, whose members manage over $3 trillion, said the details of the package–including guarantees to the executives–"gives rise to our concern over the board's alignment with its shareholders." Reuters has more.