Microsoft and Activision Call on US to Abandon Antitrust Case Prior to Ruling by Internal FTC Judge
According to a motion posted on the FTC’s website on Wednesday, Microsoft, who is in the process of finalizing its acquisition of game-maker Activision Blizzard, has requested the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to drop the case against the deal that was filed by the agency before an internal FTC judge.
Microsoft and Activision on Wednesday extended the deadline for closing their $69 billion deal by three months to Oct. 18, as the American companies scramble to secure British approval for the biggest gaming deal in history.
In Washington, the FTC has continued a two-pronged attack on the proposed deal. One was in a district court that last week refused to grant a preliminary injunction against the proposed deal. The Court of Appeal also rejected the request to suspend the sale.
The other is before an FTC administrative law judge, where the trial is set to begin on August 2. It was in this situation that the companies asked the agency to withdraw.
“Abandoning litigation is not only mandatory, it is in the public interest. The district court had full opportunity to examine the FTC’s claims and determined that the Commission was unlikely to succeed on those claims for several independently sufficient reasons,” the companies said in the motion.
The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
