We need to start popping the champagne on the Redmond side. Tuesday started out particularly well for Microsoft, which took a giant step toward acquiring the Activision group Blizzard King. The company has seen a new barrier fall: the blocking request of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US competition authority, was canceled by the San Francisco Court on Tuesday, July 11.
A blow for the FTC that sees one of its solutions to cancel the agreement fail. A coup for Microsoft, which knew how to defend its case during a trial that will still have been the scene of many revelations about the video game industry, including Sony PlayStation or Nintendo.
“We are grateful to the San Francisco Court for this swift and comprehensive decision, and hope that other jurisdictions will continue with us to move toward a full resolution. As we have consistently demonstrated throughout this process, we are committed to working creatively and collaboratively.” to address all concerns,” Microsoft Chairman Brad Smith said in welcoming the court victory.
The FTC was quick to express its disappointment. You still have to wait for the administrative decision, but this is unlikely to prevent the continuation of negotiations between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King. The competition authority may still decide to withdraw its other lawsuits, the verdict of which is expected in 2024.
“We are disappointed with this decision, given the clear threat this merger poses to open up competition in cloud gaming, subscription services and consoles. In the coming days, we will announce our next steps to continue our fight to preserve the competition and protect our consumers”, the FTC reacted to Bloomberg.
Nothing stands in the way of fusion
The biggest video game buyout of all time, at $69 billion, looks like it’s only days away from closing. The only obstacle that still stood in the way of success, the CMA, the regulator of the British market which objected to a denial in May, moved quickly ahead of the federal court’s decision to propose re-arguing with Microsoft, even before the trial scheduled for the last week of July.
Brad Smith hasn’t been late to the publisher, also a communication to explain that I’ve broken the divergence of points of view with the CMA, Microsoft is ready to find a way to respond to the authorities’ concerns to modify the transaction in a sensibly acceptable way both parts. The Xbox console manufacturer also had the option of leaving the United Kingdom to validate the takeover bid, in the absence of an agreement with the CMA.
Now with the European Union given its approval, many countries, and the US justice system rejecting the FTC’s request, while it awaits the UK appeal, Microsoft no longer has much to stop it from taking action to bring down obligations and many other games in your wallet.
Microsoft also had a very specific deadline in mind: July 18. On this date the agreement between the two parties involved in the repurchase procedure expires. Eventually, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King would have had to extend the deal. Because without that, the former would have to pay close to 3 billion dollars to the latter if the file is still not resolved to date. There’s really no reason why it shouldn’t be this way. And without a doubt it was PlayStation, which had refused everything. agreement around obligationswho may be the only one to regret the end of the show.
Source: BFM TV
