FTC loses latest appeal in ongoing battle against Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition

A 12 months and a half after Microsoft’s buy of Activision Blizzard for $69bn, the US Federal Commerce Fee’s persevering with makes an attempt to dam the deal may lastly have come to an finish following the ninth Circuit Court docket’s choice to disclaim its enchantment of a 2023 decrease court docket ruling.

The FTC has been battling Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard because it was proposed in 2022, arguing – in an antitrust lawsuit filed in December that 12 months – the deal would „hurt competitors in a number of dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.“ After a considerable quantity of authorized forwards and backwards all through 2023, the US courts (alongside regulatory our bodies around the globe) cleared the best way for Microsoft’s deal to proceed, and proceed it did.

Nevertheless, regardless of the actual fact Microsoft’s acquisition was accomplished in October 2023, the FTC has continued to petition the ninth US Circuit Court docket of Appeals, asking it to overturn a decrease court docket’s July 2023 choice to not difficulty a preliminary injunction halting Microsoft’s deal. Nevertheless, as reported by Reuters, the ninth Circuit Court docket has now upheld the sooner ruling, saying the decrease court docket „utilized the proper authorized requirements“ and that the FTC failed to offer ample proof Microsoft’s deal would reduce competitors.

As a way to pursue its case additional, the FTC would wish to persuade the US Supreme Court docket to overturn the ninth Circuit Court docket of Appeals‘ ruling, or it might resume its personal inside administrative motion that was placed on maintain in 2023 pending the ninth Circuit’s choice. However with a brand new US administration in energy and a brand new Trump-appointed chairman helming the FTC, the company’s focus might now be elsewhere.

As for Microsoft, it has been reaping the advantages of its $69bn acquisition because the deal was finalised in 2023; the corporate’s Q1 2025 monetary report confirmed a considerable 61 % year-on-year enhance in Xbox content material and companies income, largely due to Activision Blizzard.