by Diane Bartz
(Reuters) – A California judge ruled on Tuesday that Microsoft could complete the acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard, dismissing a request from the U.S. competition regulator to temporarily block the $69 billion deal. dollars.
In the wake of this decision, the competition and markets authority in Great Britain announced that it was ready to study Microsoft’s proposals to address its concerns, despite having expressed its opposition to the proposed redemption.
The Activision title, already up about 5% after the American court decision, continued to rise to almost 10%. Microsoft also recorded gains.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has until Friday to appeal the ruling, the San Francisco court said.
Responsible for enforcing competition laws, the FTC initially asked an administrative judge last December to block the operation, considering that it would offer Microsoft, producer of the Xbox video game consoles, exclusive access to Activision games to the detriment of Nintendo and Sony consoles.
In her decision, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley rejected this hypothesis, saying that the FTC had not shown that the takeover of Activision by Microsoft would have the effect of lessening competition in the catalogs of games.
Via its spokesperson, the FTC expressed its disappointment, given “the clear threat this merger poses to open competition for online games, subscription services, and consoles.”
“We will announce in the coming days our next step to continue our fight to preserve competition and protect consumers,” added Douglas Farrar.
This operation would be the most important for Microsoft and in the history of the video game sector.
(Report Diane Bartz in Washington; French version Jean Terzian, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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