According to reports, Microsoft may be willing to agree to a ‘small divestiture’ with the UK’s CMA. In the US, the FTC still wants to appeal.
Yesterday we had major developments on the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard merger worth $68.7 billion. First and foremost, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the North District of California denied the preliminary injunction the US Federal Trade Commission requested a month ago to block the deal.
Shortly after the big news, Microsoft and the UK regulator (the Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA) jointly decided to pause the ongoing Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) appeal to resume talks. Microsoft said in a statement:
Our focus now turns back to the UK. While we ultimately disagree with the CMA’s concerns, we are considering how the transaction might be modified in order to address those concerns in a way that is acceptable to the CMA. In order to prioritize work on these proposals, Microsoft and Activision have agreed with the CMA that a stay of the litigation in the UK would be in the public interest and the parties have made a joint submission to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to this effect.
