When the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority decided to oppose Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, ultimately preventing the deal from being completed in the UK, it didn’t take long for Microsoft to initiate a review process.
The retrial was set to start on July 28, and in this case the CMA had been pushing for the trial to be postponed until October, but the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal decided to prevent that from happening, andblock CMATried to postpone hearing.
Specifically, CAT states that: “This issue is important and any new lawyer will need to digest a lot of material, but we expect that one month will be enough time for this to happen – provided the CMA selects lawyers with appropriate availability to prepare, especially given the CMA’s internal and existing The support of the legal team. The question itself is answered: this is a team that should have enough time to ensure that the CMA’s defense of the application is properly handled.
This means that whether or not the CMA has had a chance to prepare specific cases, a retrial to decide whether the UK approves or continues to block mega mergers will begin at the end of next month.
Do you think the end result will be overturned or stay the same, with Microsoft’s mega-deal blocked on UK shores?
