Microsoft moves closer to completing $69 billion Activision takeover after court rebuffs regulators

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

regulators to block Microsoft from closing its $68.7 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard, paving the way for the completion of the biggest acquisition in tech history after a legal battle over whether it will undermine competition. In a brief ruling, a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded there were no grounds for issuing an order that would have prevented Microsoft from completing its nearly 18-month-old deal to take over the maker of popular video games such as Call of Duty.

The Redmond, Washington, software maker is facing a potential $3 billion termination fee if the deal isn't completed by Tuesday. «This brings us another step closer to the finish line in this marathon of global regulatory reviews,» Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement. The appeal filed by the U.S.

Federal Trade Commission was a last-ditch effort from antitrust enforcers to halt the merger after another federal judge earlier this week ruled against the agency's attempt to block it. The FTC was seeking an injunction to prevent Microsoft from moving to close the deal as early as this weekend. The FTC declined to comment on the ruling.

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley's earlier ruling, published Tuesday, said the FTC hadn't shown that the deal would cause substantial harm. She focused, in part, on Microsoft's promises and economic incentive to keep Call of Duty available on rivals to its own Xbox gaming system, such as Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Switch.

In its appeal, the FTC argued Corley made «fundamental errors.» «This case is about more than a single video game and the console hardware to play it,» the FTC said. «It is about the future of the gaming industry. At