FTC does not give up
US agency wants to continue blocking Activision takeover
07/13/2023 11:03 am
The fact that Microsoft wants to buy the video game giant Activision Blizzard is not only a thorn in the side of the competition. The FTC also wants to block the deal, but US judges reject it. Now the supervisory authority wants to appeal.
The US supervisory authority FTC does not want to come to terms with the legal defeat in the dispute over Microsoft’s purchase of the video game giant Activision Blizzard. The Federal Trade Commission announced on Thursday night that the decision not to block the deal with an injunction would be appealed.
The Xbox group Microsoft wants to secure popular video games such as “Call of Duty”, “Overwatch” and “Candy Crush” with the 69 billion dollar acquisition. The FTC’s competition watchdogs filed a lawsuit in December to thwart the deal. They believe that Microsoft would gain too much market power in the video game business. However, San Francisco Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley concluded that the FTC had not provided sufficient evidence to support this assumption to warrant an injunction.
Microsoft and Activision Blizzard had originally set a deadline of July 18 to complete the acquisition announced in early 2022. Time is running out for this, because in addition to the US court proceedings, there is also a veto from the British competition authority CMA. She made it clear that the companies would have to work out a deal with changed framework conditions for their approval, which would be examined again.