The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is set to file for an injunction seeking to block Microsoft’s proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard according to CNBC.
The FTC is reportedly seeking to stop the transaction from going through before the deal’s July 18th deadline. The FTC had already sued to block the acquisition back in December, choosing to bring the case before its internal administrative law judge.
In that process, the judge would make an initial decision that could be appealed to the full commission for a vote. After that, Microsoft could appeal to a federal court should the decision not go its way.
The case is set to go before the administrative law judge in August. Seeking an injunction now would enable that process to go ahead and accelerates the legal process.
An appeal of the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority’s decision to block the merger is also scheduled to take place around that time.
Microsoft President Brad Smith says in a statement: “We welcome the opportunity to present our case in federal court. We believe accelerating the legal process in the U.S will ultimately bring more choice and competition to the market.”
Source: CNBC
