The FTC Suspends its Internal Challenge to Prevent Microsoft-Activision Blizzard Deal, While UK Negotiates

mmorpg.com:

After recent court losses preventing the agency from preventing Microsoft’s deal to acquire Activision Blizzard from closing, the United States Federal Trade Commission has suspended its internal administrative challenge to the deal. A hearing was set to begin in early August if the process were to continue at this time.

After requesting a temporary restraining order, and winning one, the FTC and Microsoft went to court over the FTC’s additional request of an injunction to stop the two companies from closing their deal until the FTC would fully investigate. After days of testimony from a number of key figures on all sides, the judge in the case rejected the request for an injunction, essentially clearing the deal to close, days before the deadline. 

However, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard agreed to extend the closure deadline for the acquisition to October, since the deal would have had to be renegotiated if it didn’t close by July 18th. The lone major holdout on the deal comes via the United Kingdom, where the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the deal this spring. Recently, the CMA agreed to a pause in Microsoft’s appeal of the original decision to engage in discussions with the regulatory agency to see if the sides could work out some sort of changes to allow for the dea lto go forward. 

The UK CMA’s decision to block the deal remains in effect at this time, with a final decision expected August 29th.

As for the FTC, the internal investigation is suspended, but it doesn’t mean that the case is over. The FTC appealed the decision to deny the preliminary injunction, so that process is yet to play out. With the extended deadline to close the deal, the FTC could still reopen its challenge at some point