A California judge ruled in Microsoft’s favor on the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction blocking its $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. The FTC is now appealing its loss to Microsoft, all before the deal deadline of July 18th. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will now need to rule on Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s decision and even whether there should be an extension to a temporary restraining order (TRO) which is currently set to expire at 11:59PM PT on Friday July 14th. This restraining order is the key part of the deal right now, as if there is no order in place then Microsoft has a window of opportunity to close its Activision Blizzard deal. But there’s still the problem of the UK’s regulators blocking the deal. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Microsoft have agreed to pause their legal battles to figure out how the transaction might be modified in order to address the CMA’s cloud gaming concerns. The CMA blocked Microsoft’s deal earlier this year, citing competition fears in the emerging cloud gaming market. The CMA has warned that a proposed restructuring of its merger could result in it starting a new investigation and the regulator has issued a notice of extension for its overall investigation into the deal, moving the date for final undertakings or a final order from July 18th to August 29th. Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft has until July 18th to try and close its proposed acquisition; otherwise, it has to renegotiate new terms or pay $3 billion in breakup fees to Activision Blizzard. You can read a full summary of each day of the FTC v. Microsoft hearing here: * Day one: Microsoft opened the FTC hearing with a Sony bombshell * Day two: Has Xbox really lost the console wars? * Day three: Sony’s PlayStation chief says publishers hate Xbox Game Pass * Day four: Microsoft and Activision CEOs battle to keep a giant Xbox deal alive * Day five: Microsoft’s FTC fight comes down to Call of Duty Follow along for all our ongoing coverage of Microsoft’s battle with the FTC over its Activision Blizzard deal.
A California judge ruled in Microsoft’s favor on the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction blocking its $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. The FTC is now appealing its loss to Microsoft, all before the deal deadline of July 18th. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will now need to rule on Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s decision and even whether there should be an extension to a temporary restraining order (TRO) which is currently set to expire at 11:59PM PT on Friday July 14th. This restraining order is the key part of the deal right now, as if there is no order in place then Microsoft has a window of opportunity to close its Activision Blizzard deal. But there’s still the problem of the UK’s regulators blocking the deal. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Microsoft have agreed to pause their legal battles to figure out how the transaction might be modified in order to address the CMA’s cloud gaming concerns. The CMA blocked Microsoft’s deal earlier this year, citing competition fears in the emerging cloud gaming market. The CMA has warned that a proposed restructuring of its merger could result in it starting a new investigation and the regulator has issued a notice of extension for its overall investigation into the deal, moving the date for final undertakings or a final order from July 18th to August 29th. Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft has until July 18th to try and close its proposed acquisition; otherwise, it has to renegotiate new terms or pay $3 billion in breakup fees to Activision Blizzard. You can read a full summary of each day of the FTC v. Microsoft hearing here: * Day one: Microsoft opened the FTC hearing with a Sony bombshell * Day two: Has Xbox really lost the console wars? * Day three: Sony’s PlayStation chief says publishers hate Xbox Game Pass * Day four: Microsoft and Activision CEOs battle to keep a giant Xbox deal alive * Day five: Microsoft’s FTC fight comes down to Call of Duty Follow along for all our ongoing coverage of Microsoft’s battle with the FTC over its Activision Blizzard deal.
