San Francisco Court smacks FTC attempts to stop Microsoft $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition – Microsoft’s plans on getting Activision Blizzard under its banner got halted when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the United Kingdom filed cases to stop this acquisition. Today, a court in San Francisco ruled in favor of Microsoft, allowing the deal to pass through the U.S. Here is everything you need to know about this issue.
San Francisco Court smacks FTC attempts to stop Microsoft $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition
The Federal Trade Commission’s regulators had filed cases to stop this $69 billion acquisition during June. On June 11, a federal judge in San Francisco Court has denied the FTC’s injunction request to prevent Microsoft acquiring video game publisher Activision Blizzard. The $69 billion acquisition deal is still not fully rolling as the FTC regulators can now file its appeal of the decision to federal appellate court.
Our statement on today’s decision: pic.twitter.com/jRDD8PhBeT
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) July 11, 2023
But this ruling still counts as a win in Microsoft’s books, and Brad Smith, the Vice Chairman and President of the company, welcomed the decision.
We’re grateful to the court of San Francisco for this quick and thorough decision and hope other jurisdictions will continue working towards a timely resolution. As we’ve demonstrated consistently throughout this process, we are committed to working creatively and collaboratively to address regulatory concerns.
It’s still not all well and good for Microsoft as the Competition and Markets Authority in the U.K. had sued the company even earlier than the FTC to stop this acquisition. That case is still ongoing. Brad Smith has also released another statement on the company’s mutual request with the CMA for a pause on its appeal in the U.K.
We are considering how the transaction might be modified in order to address the concerns in a way that is acceptable to the CMA. In order to prioritize work on these proposals, Microsoft and Activision have agreed with the CMA that a stay of the litigation in the UK would be in the public interest and the parties have made a joint submission to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to this effect.
2/Since we first announced this deal, our commitment to bringing more games to more people on more devices has only grown. We’ve signed multiple agreements to make Activision Blizzard’s games, Xbox first party games and Game Pass all available to more players than they are today.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) July 11, 2023
Other executives from Microsoft like Phil Spencer, the Head of Xbox, also applauded the ruling of the San Francisco judge. He claimed that if the deal goes through, Microsoft will be able to bring “more games to more people on more devices.”
There are still various hurdles left before Microsoft can fully acquire Activision Blizzard.
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