Has Microsft cleared the FTC hurdle?

Has Microsft cleared the FTC hurdle?

San Francisco, 18-7. 2022

Microsoft has cleared a hurdle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, suggesting the merger could be approved by U.S. regulators as early as August.

Microsoft has now reportedly complied with the FTC’s information requests, giving the agency 30 days to raise final objections to the acquisition.

If the FTC does not request further information from Microsoft or Activision Blizzard, the deal will automatically go into effect.

The U.S. antitrust review will examine whether the deal would be fair to consumers, investors and the overall video game market. The deal still needs to be reviewed by other authorities. The U.K.’s antitrust regulator launched an investigation last month to determine whether the proposed acquisition will restrict competition.

The acquisition is the largest Microsoft has made since it bought LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2 billion. It would allow Microsoft to publish Activision franchises such as Candy Crush, Warcraft, Diablo and Overwatch, and add new and existing Activision Blizzard games to its Game Pass.

The acquisition would make Microsoft the third-largest game maker in the world after Tencent and Sony. Microsoft previously bought game maker Bethesda in 2021 for $7.5 billion and Minecraft maker Mojang in 2014 for $2.5 billion.