Microsoft Challenges FTC’s Request to Block Activision’s USD 69B Acquisition

On Friday, Microsoft strongly urged an appeals court to dismiss the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) plea to halt its $69 billion acquisition of Activision, using harsh language at times.

Late Thursday, the agency asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to require the companies to delay the deal while the court examines the FTC’s broader appeal. Microsoft said Friday that the agency had been slow to file in federal court, and therefore it was inappropriate to push for a delay so late in the game.

“The court should not confuse FTC litigation with an emergency that merits this court’s departure from the normal appeals process,” the company wrote.

Microsoft also disputed the FTC’s claims that San Francisco Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley erred in ruling that the deal would harm console gamers. “The district court’s holding of the FTC’s primary claim at trial demonstrates that the court did not misapply the law,” Microsoft said.

The FTC had argued that Microsoft would have an incentive to hoard Activision games like “Call of Duty,” the best-selling game of all time, for Xbox and its subscription service, hurting competitors like Sony, which sells the PlayStation console, and eventually. field.

Legal experts have said the agency had to fight to get an appeals court to overturn Corley’s conviction.

The deal has also failed to win approval in the UK, where the Competition and Markets Authority had received “detailed and complex” proposals from companies hoping to resolve the agency’s antitrust claims. The Competition Authority set a deadline of August 29 for making a decision.

The battle was the second time the FTC during the Biden administration tried to block a Big Tech company from buying a content company, and the second time it lost in court. The first was Meta’s purchase of virtual reality content producer Within Unlimited.