FTC Doesn't Let Up [Update: Supreme Court Involved]

Source: Pixabay/efes

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Update #2

As reported by Stephen Totilo from Axios, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals also denied FTC's request for an injunction to block the Activision-Microsoft deal, as we wrote about in a previous update. As expected, FTC has appealed this ruling to the Supreme Court.

Update #1 (July 14, 2023)

As expected, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, presiding over the Federal Trade Comission vs. Microsoft/Activision trial, rejected the request, in which "the FTC asked the District Court to issue a stay of the merger in question pending the outcome of the FTC's appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals," as discussed in this news item.

This means that the transaction, which for various reasons described below should have been approved by July 18, can now be put on hold only by an emergency order from the Ninth District Court of Appeals (the appeal hearing has been set for August).

Original news (July 13, 2023)

Microsoft has won a court case against the US Federal Trade Commission, which wanted to block the purchase of Activision Blizzard. However, the US regulator is not laying down its arms - it has decided to appeal the unfavorable ruling.

Microsoft's win and the FTC's appeal

The day before yesterday we informed about the details of the trial won by Microsoft. As it turns out, this case is going to go on a bit longer - the FTC has filed an appeal and at the next hearing will make another attempt to prove the negative impact of the possible merger on the game industry. In the released documents we read:

Once the full appeal is filed with the court mentioned in the citation, the FTC's complete arguments will be disclosed.

Recall that the court, in its reasons for the ruling, indicated that the authority's concerns were insufficient to block the nearly 69 billion takeover. Despite this, the FTC is not changing its mind and is fighting on. This position of the regulator was already commented on by Activision Blizzard and Microsoft.

A statement on social media was also issued by Brad Smith, vice chairman of Microsoft's board of directors. He laments the FTC's decision to stubbornly defend a lost case. He also opposes all attempts to delay the finalization of the deal.

Let's point out that the deal must be approved by July 18, otherwise Microsoft will have to pay Activision Blizzard three billion dollars, and the provisions of the deal itself would have to be renegotiated. In turn, the appeal hearing may take place in August at the earliest, so it is no wonder that Smith is irritated by the whole situation.

The United States is not the only front Microsoft has to fight on. The deal has been blocked by the British CMA, which continues to take a hard line against the acquisition. The green light for the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard has already been given by dozens of countries, including Brazil and Saudi Arabia. The European Commission has also given its approval to finalize the merger.

Attack on FTC's Wikipedia page

The case of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard has inflamed the entire gaming industry and the community. Following the Commission's decision to file an appeal, some users (who favor Microsoft) decided to loudly speak out what they think about the behavior of the US regulator.

The FTC's Wikipedia page featured the PlayStation logo with the caption "Federal Trade Comission.". In addition, Jim Ryan (head of PlayStation) was identified as the Commission's chairman, and the website address was renamed to Sony's website.

The correct data on this Wikipedia page has already been restored, but such actions show, how great is the irritation with the FTC's decisions among the community waiting for the merger. It is also worth noting that, according to the current findings, Activision Blizzard will be removed from the Nasdaq-100 index before the stock market opens on Monday, a sign that the publisher of Call of Duty and Microsoft are preparing to finalize their deal.