As originally revealed by CNBC, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed for a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The FTC was the first regulator to formally oppose the merger in December 2022. They sued to block it then, although they did so via their internal administrative system. However, the first hearing is set for August, and the deadline set by Microsoft and Activision Blizzard to close their $68.7 billion deal is July 18th.
The FTC could have asked for an injunction in December, but back then, there was no impending risk of closure. That the FTC feels the need to bring the case to a federal court suggests they believe Microsoft might be about to try and close the deal even in the presence of the FTC’s previous lawsuit and the UK CMA’s attempt to block the deal.
There have indeed been such rumors. With regards to the UK regulator, Microsoft is currently appealing to the Competition Appeal Tribunal, but they are reportedly seeking options to circumvent the block even if the appeal turns out to be unsuccessful.
One ‘nuclear’ option would be to divest Activision in the UK and sell their games through a third-party distributor. Alternatively, as suggested by Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, Microsoft could simply elect to carve out Activision Blizzard titles from the UK version of Game Pass since the CMA blocked the deal due to competition concerns for the cloud gaming market.
The temporary restraining order may be easier for the FTC to obtain, but the real crux of the matter is the preliminary injunction. If the judge granted it, it would be a major wrench in Microsoft’s plans; on the other hand, if it quashed it, it would be a massive win for the Windows and Xbox company.
For its part, Activision Blizzard could still decide to walk away from the deal and get the $3 billion Microsoft promised them if the merger didn’t go through. However, the company is actually supporting Microsoft’s legal effort. For instance, they have requested (and been allowed to by the Competition Appeal Tribunal) to intervene with further arguments and materials in support of the merger.
Either way, it looks like things are moving quickly at this point, and a resolution may be coming in a matter of weeks. As a reminder, 39 countries have already approved the deal, including the European Union, Japan, China, South Korea, Brazil, Serbia, Chile, South Africa, and Ukraine.
