Activision Blizzard set to leave stock exchange following court ruling

eurogamer.net:

Activision Blizzard is set to leave the US stock exchange this weekend.

This move comes just days after Microsoft won its case against the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its ongoing bid to buy the Call of Duty maker — something the FTC has now said it will appeal.

American based stock exchange Nasdaq announced that another company would join the Nasdaq-100 Index in the coming days, replacing Activision Blizzard in the process.

Activision Blizzard will be removed from the Nasdaq-100 ESG Index prior to the market opening this coming Monday, 17th July.

While nothing has been officially announced, this decision to leave the stock exchange suggests Activision Blizzard and Microsoft are confident their proposed merger will be successful — and potentially completed over the weekend.

Outside of the FTC's current appeal — something Microsoft has called disappointing — the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) remains the only other regulator to oppose Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Following the court's ruling earlier this week, the CMA agreed to pause legal proceedings with Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.

The UK regulator has now suggested a «new merger investigation» into Microsoft's proposed acquisition is not out of the question should the deal be restructured.

In a statement to Eurogamer, a CMA spokesperson said its discussions with Microsoft are still in the «early stages», and the decision to block the deal, as set out in its final report earlier this year, «still stands».

The only other major regulator to previously take issue with Microsoft's proposed deal was the EU's European Commission. However, it ultimately gave the deal the go-ahead after deciding it was happy with concessions