U.S. Court Denies FTC’s Request to Pause Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision-Blizzard: Deal to be Finalized

The U.S. court has denied the FTC’s request to pause Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard while the regulator’s appeal is pending. That means Microsoft is free from Sunday to finalize the deal.

The Federal Trade Commission applied to the court for a injunctive relief, appears from the documentation. With this, the FTC wanted to ensure that Microsoft was not allowed to complete the acquisition before a decision has been made in the appeal filed by the regulator. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has now denied that request. This means that Microsoft may complete the acquisition as soon as the earlier temporary restraining order established by the court expires. That happened on Saturday July 15 at 08:59 Dutch time.

Initial hearings in the FTC’s appeal are scheduled for August 2. If the judge in this case agrees with the FTC, the acquisition is likely to have already been completed and both companies will have to part ways again.

The British regulator CMA previously blocked the takeover. After the American court on Tuesday rejected the FTC’s request to temporarily block the takeover, the CMA decided to sit down with Microsoft again and negotiate new measures. According to Bloomberg sources, Microsoft is considering selling the cloud gaming rights in the UK to another company in order to allay the concerns of the CMA. The CMA’s investigation into the acquisition will continue until August 29, unless it can reach an agreement with Microsoft earlier.

Microsoft officially has until July 18 to close the deal with Activision-Blizzard. After that, either party may choose to renegotiate the terms. After July 18, Activision-Blizzard is also free to call off the acquisition in its entirety. In the latter case, Microsoft must pay a $ 3 billion fine. Both companies may also simply choose to postpone this deadline.

2023-07-15 07:56:55
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