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Microsoft's lengthy fight for Activision could stall deal's momentum
Jun 13, 2023
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Microsoft's lengthy regulatory battle to close on its $68.7 billion deal for Activision Blizzard threatens to kill momentum from the potential tie-up.
Why it matters: Remember AT&T's two-year odyssey to buy Time Warner? Executives blamed that lengthy court fight for why the deal never lived up to its promise.
Driving the news: The Federal Trade Commission's attempts to block Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard will soon reach a breaking point after it filed an injunction against the deal.
- Microsoft wants to close the acquisition before a July 18 termination deadline, and the FTC is seeking to prevent that because deals are a lot harder to unwind after they're completed, Axios' Ashley Gold writes.
Context: It's the latest move by regulators against the deal.
- The United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority vetoed the agreement in April — a decision Microsoft is appealing.
- An August trial is set for the FTC's challenge of the deal.
- "We welcome the opportunity to present our case in federal court. We believe accelerating the legal process in the U.S. will ultimately bring more choice and competition to the market," Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, said in a statement.
- The European Union approved the merger in May.
Flashback: The FTC first moved to block the deal last December.
- "Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals," Holly Vedova, director of the FTC's bureau of competition, said at the time.
- "[W]e seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets."
