England looks terrible.
A California judge has approved Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission had sought an injunction to block the closing of the transaction pending further review, but Judge Jacqueline Scott Corey denied the injunction after a week of testimony. This raises the likelihood that the US$68.7bn mega-deal will be completed by the next deadline, assuming a settlement is reached or avoided by the UK competition market authority.
In his ruling, Judge Corey cited Microsoft’s pledge to expand the release of the “Call of Duty” franchise to other platforms, including the Nintendo platform, and said Nintendo’s consoles constituted competition in the console market (which would keep Microsoft in the No. 3 position in the market). Similarly, an agreement to introduce ABK products to other cloud services, which is the cornerstone of the British agreement block, was also considered.
The FTC can request an emergency appeal, but no indication of an appeal has been given. A previous injunction loss by the FTC in a lawsuit in which Meta acquired VR developer Within was not appealed.
