Report: FTC to File Injunction Looking to Block Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Deal - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 12 June 2023 / 2,137 Views
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking to file an injunction looking to black Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition, according to a source familiar with the matter speaking with CNBC.
The FTC in December of last year sued to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard claiming the deal would give Microsoft the ability to suppress its competitors in gaming. The case is set to happen in August.
The injunction would temporarily block Microsoft from closing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which currently has a deadline of July 18.
"We welcome the opportunity to present our case in federal court," said Microsoft President Brad Smith. "We believe accelerating the legal process in the U.S will ultimately bring more choice and competition to the market."
The deal has been approved in South Korea, China, the European Union, Ukraine, South Africa, Japan, Chile, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia.
Microsoft's deal is facing a block in the UK, which the two companies are appealing. A case management conference attended by Microsoft and the UK regulator, Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), was recently held and Justice Marcus Smith scheduled the hearings for Microsoft's appeal to start July 24 and is expected to last upwards of 10 days.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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This is good, this will accelerate things and Microsoft will be able to bring the case to a federal court which is what they wanted from the start.
FTC is more or less playing right into MS’s hands lol. MS already told CNBC that they’re welcoming the injunction. There’s a reason why the FTC wasn’t attempting to actually block the deal until they heard MS was going to close the deal.
Yes this was just a political move. They know that they are going to lose and Microsoft did too; but they could not just keep waiting, at the some point they had to move.
Honestly it is a shame how much energy and resource will be wasted on that just cause of they wanted to make a political stand leading to nowhere.
Agreed. It is extremely irresponsible use of taxpayer resources.
