FTC drops challenge over Microsoft Activision deal
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has dropped an internal administrative challenge that sought to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
As reported by The Verge, this hearing was set to take place ahead of the government body's own administrative judge on August 2nd. This was a second prong in a two-arm offensive to try to stop the deal from going through. The other was the FTC's pursuit of a temporary restraining order that would block Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard. That was denied earlier this month, though the FTC is appealing the decision.
The body's decision to drop the internal administrative challenge followed Microsoft and Activision filing a request that the FTC do so.
The deal has broadly been approved around the world, with the only major hold out being the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). That body blocked the deal earlier this year, though Microsoft appears to be amending the terms of the merger as well as looking into selling off part of its cloud games business. The Big M's dominance in this sector was the CMA's major worry when it came to the deal.
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