Activision Blizzard deal | FTC injunction granted by US court

Activision Blizzard FTC
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Microsoftā€™s Activision Blizzard buyout has been halted after an injunction filed by the FTC was granted in court.
  Update: The Federal Trade Commissionā€™s restraining order, aimed to temporarily prevent Microsoft from closing its Activision Blizzard deal, has been granted by a court in California, reports The Verge. The ruling means that Microsoft will, for now, be unable to complete its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, worth somewhere in the region of $69 billion. The injunction means that ā€œMicrosoft and Activision shall not close or consumate their proposed transaction or a substantially similar transaction until after 11:59pm Pacific Time on the fifth business day after the court rules on the FTCā€™s requestā€¦ or a date set by the Court, whichever is later.ā€ All parties involved will get to argue their case later this month, with a hearing scheduled for 22 and 23 June in a San Francisco courtroom. Microsoftā€™s deal with Activision Blizzard has a deadline ā€“ 18 July ā€“ and as The Verge also notes, there could be an expense attached if that date is missed. Assuming both parties donā€™t agree to extend the deadline, Microsoft will owe Activision Blizzard $3 billion termination bill. Our original story followsā€¦ 13 June 2023: Itā€™s the latest chapter in an ongoing saga worth billions of dollars. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has gone to a court in California with a restraining order, designed to temporarily prevent the deal from going ahead. The news came to light via a court filing spotted by VGC, which requests a ā€œpreliminary injunctionā€ to prevent Microsoft from ā€œconsummating their proposed acquisitionā€ of Activision Blizzard. The FTC has long been opposed to the deal, having already filed a lawsuit which sought to block the deal in December 2022. The commissionā€™s argument is that the acquisition would ā€œenable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.ā€ Itā€™s a sentiment broadly shared by the UKā€™s Competition and Markets Authority, which blocked the takeover in April this year. Microsoft is currently in the process of appealing that verdict, and argues that the CMA made ā€œfundamental errorsā€ during the process of making its verdict. Elsewhere in the world, regulatory bodies have waved the proposal through ā€“ one clear landmark was the European Commissionā€™s approval in mid-May. Microsoft has also suggested that it could take the extreme step of withdrawing Activision from the UK entirely (assuming the deal goes ahead, of course) or simply ignoring the CMAā€™s ruling. The FTCā€™s latest move could prove to be a difficult one to get around, though, assuming itā€™s granted ā€“ the FTC has requested that its latest block be put in place by 15 June. ā€œBoth a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction are necessary because Microsoft and Activision have represented that they may consummate the proposed acquisition at any time,ā€ the FTC states in the complaint above. ā€œWith control of Activisionā€™s content, Microsoft would have the ability and increased incentive to withhold or degrade Activisionā€™s content in ways that substantially lessen competition.ā€ Microsoftā€™s deal, worth around $69 billion, would be the biggest such acquisition in history if it goes ahead. The dealā€™s deadline is 18 July; whether Microsoft can get around this latest roadblock in time remains to be seen.
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