The US Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit denies the FTC's appeal for an injunctive relief to stop Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard from closing
The Ninth Circuit decision follows a rapid sequence of failed FTC efforts: a federal court rejected the agency's preliminary-injunction request, and a district judge then declined to pause the transaction while the appeal was pending.
Microsoft and Activision Blizzard can proceed without the injunction the FTC sought; the FTC loses its immediate mechanism for stopping the closing through this appeal.
The decision reinforces the earlier finding that the FTC's competitive-harm theories were unlikely to succeed, as reflected in the denial of the preliminary injunction.
Second-order effects
The result gives Microsoft greater certainty to integrate Activision Blizzard into its gaming business, while the FTC must pursue any remaining challenge without this emergency block.
For merger parties facing FTC challenges, the sequence highlights how much turns on winning the initial injunction fight: once the district court declined relief, the agency's appeal faced a narrow path.
Third-order effects
If courts continue to reject emergency merger blocks where agencies cannot substantiate likely competitive harm, litigation outcomes may increasingly determine whether aggressive antitrust enforcement can delay or reshape large technology transactions.
The later dispute over whether the FTC was held to an overly demanding standard suggests the longer-term issue is not only this deal, but the legal threshold agencies must meet to stop mergers before closing.
The trend: This is one data point in the broader contest over whether US antitrust agencies can translate tougher merger enforcement into court-ordered pre-closing remedies for major technology deals.
Well, that's it. — Microsoft is probably going to negotiate with the CMA until the last second (likely licensing their streaming business in the UK), and ActiBlizzKing should become part of XBox by the end of the 18th. — Let's hope Kotick is out soon after. — https://www.cn…
We appreciate the Ninth Circuit's swift response denying the FTC's motion to further delay the Activision deal. This brings us another step closer to the finish line in this marathon of global regulatory reviews.
all eyes are now on the CMA and the Competition Appeal Tribunal case management conference on Monday July 17th at 2:30PM UK / 9:30AM ET / 6:30AM PT. We should get a better idea of how this deal could close in the UK 👍
The 9th Circuit just denied two requests to extend the freeze on the Microsoft-Activision deal past 11:59PT tonight. FTC and gamer suit requests both denied. Their appeals continue, but any block on the deal in the U.S. goes away when Saturday begins https://www.axios.com/...
#Microsoft #Activision - still waiting on the companies to say anything. It's possible they won't want to break cover re. closing while the CMA thing is percolating, for diplomatic reasons. FTC has no comment.
Wanna congratulate Microsoft. The deal with Activision is officially able to close worldwide, except the UK for the time being. What a long 18 month road... [image]
Microsoft is still trying to resolve the CMA situation, they have until the 18th to get that sorted but I suspect they are working quickly to get it done well ahead of that deadline.
After an 18-month saga, it's looking like by Tuesday, Activision Blizzard will be part of Microsoft. Unless Canada steps in? https://www.bloomberg.com/...
the 9th circuit has denied the FTC's request for injunctive relief. Microsoft is now free to close its Activision Blizzard deal after 11:59PM PT today, as long as the UK situation can be resolved
I see a lot of folks confused / getting this wrong. The FTC hasn't just lost its appeal against the FTC v. Microsoft ruling. It has been denied injunctive relief that would have restricted Microsoft from closing the Activision deal until the result of the appeal 👍