Filing: the US FTC suspends its in-house trial against Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition set for August 2023, opening the door to settlement talks
- Move allows Microsoft, Activision to speak with commissioners — Companies asked for delay ahead of August in-house trial
Context & Ripple Effects
The FTC’s administrative case had already been overtaken by the federal-court fight: a temporary restraining order led to an evidentiary hearing, and the court later rejected the FTC’s request to block the deal preliminarily. The agency nevertheless filed an appeal of that ruling, keeping pressure on the transaction.
Suspending the August in-house trial changes the immediate venue from litigation scheduling to direct engagement with commissioners. It is a procedural opening for Microsoft and Activision, not a resolution of the FTC’s challenge.
First-order effects
- Microsoft and Activision can pursue discussions with FTC commissioners without simultaneously preparing for the scheduled administrative trial.
- The FTC pauses its in-house adjudication timetable while retaining its challenge and the ability to press for conditions or continue litigation.
Second-order effects
- A negotiated path could shift the parties’ effort toward terms that address the competitive concerns raised in the court challenge, rather than another near-term trial confrontation.
- The pause reduces the immediate trial burden on the companies but leaves deal certainty dependent on the FTC’s next procedural or settlement decision.
Third-order effects
- The episode illustrates how merger enforcement can proceed on parallel judicial and administrative tracks, with a court setback potentially redirecting an agency toward negotiation rather than ending scrutiny.
- If this pattern persists, large technology transactions may increasingly be shaped by the interaction between injunction rulings, agency appeals, and settlement leverage rather than a single decisive proceeding.
The trend: Big-tech merger reviews are becoming multi-forum contests in which court outcomes and agency administrative processes jointly determine the path to closing.