In a move resembling where a player continues to drive on after the last whistle has been blown, the FTC is reviving its efforts to block the merger. Just when most folks might have thought that Microsoft and Activision were clear to proceed with the next steps for the deal worth roughly $69 billion, the Federal Trade Commission has filed paperwork for returning the matter to an adjudicative status. The FTC seeks to have the case recommenced but Microsoft doesn’t seem too worried about it as it told Bloomberg (via Engadget) that it’s not overly concerned.
Per the FTC:
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT this matter be returned to adjudicative status and
the stay in this proceeding be lifted;
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT the evidentiary hearing in this proceeding is
hereby rescheduled to commence twenty one days after the issuance of the Ninth Circuit’s
opinion on the Commission’s appeal of the district court decision in Federal Trade Commission
v. Microsoft Corp.; and
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT public access to the evidentiary hearing in this
proceeding, to the extent consistent with the protection of confidential information and for
monitoring purposes only, will be provided via telephone or live web streaming.”
Near global approval
This latest filing was made on September 26 and follows a July ruling in Microsoft’s favor where a judge ruled against an FTC request for a preliminary injunction. The deal has largely gained approval from most regulatory authorities across the globe, including China, New Zealand, the EU Commission, and recently a preliminary approval from the EU Competition and Markets Authority on September 22 was granted as long as Microsoft sells Activision’s cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft.
Per the EU CMA:
“Under that new deal, Microsoft will not purchase the cloud gaming rights held by Activision, which will instead be sold to an independent third party, Ubisoft Entertainment SA (Ubisoft), before the deal is completed.”
Even though the FTC is reviving its challenges to the deal it does seem that, eventually, it will come to pass with the U.S. government being the last, biggest obstacle in the process.