A US district judge denies the FTC's motion to stay Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition; the FTC is still seeking emergency action by the 9th Circuit
Bloomberg Law :
Context & Ripple Effects
The FTC had first sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, then appealed after the district court found its harm theories unlikely to succeed. This stay denial is the next procedural test of whether the agency can preserve the status quo while its challenge proceeds.
With the existing TRO set to expire, the FTC’s emergency appeal of the earlier clearance became its remaining near-term route to delay the transaction. The subsequent Ninth Circuit decision rejecting injunctive relief underscores how quickly that route narrowed.
First-order effects
- Microsoft and Activision Blizzard can continue toward closing unless the Ninth Circuit grants the FTC emergency relief.
- The FTC must shift its immediate effort from the district court to persuading the appeals court that a pause is warranted.
Second-order effects
- The ruling reduces near-term deal-timing uncertainty for the parties, while leaving the FTC’s underlying challenge and appeal process unresolved.
- It also raises the practical bar for the FTC’s litigation strategy: after the failed preliminary-injunction bid, appellate relief becomes the agency’s principal tool for preventing a completed transaction during review.
Third-order effects
- If courts continue to reject interim relief in major technology merger cases, enforcement agencies may face greater pressure to build their strongest evidentiary record before a deal reaches its closing window.
- The case illustrates a durable constraint on merger enforcement: once a transaction is allowed to close, remedies and appeals can become more difficult to use as tools for preserving competition, though the corpus does not establish the ultimate legal outcome here.
The trend: This is one data point in the growing importance of procedural timing and injunction standards in determining whether antitrust agencies can stop large technology deals before closing.