The development of the Microsoft-Activision partnership in the US, particularly, needs to be caught up on. Even if it seems paradoxical, all of this might result in the deal being completed sooner rather than later.
We'll talk about what occurred first. Florian Mueller, a patent specialist, participated in a portion of the brief second case management meeting with the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal. The appeal case is planned by the tribunal to take place in late July and is anticipated to go on for four to six days. The commencement date of July 28, 2023, as suggested by Microsoft, has not yet been chosen.
But before all of this was done, the FTC took action of its own and filed a preliminary injunction as well as a temporary restraining order to halt the Microsoft-Activision merger. This is the third lawsuit against the agreement that has been brought in the US, but oddly enough, Microsoft's response has been...positive?
Yes, believe it or not, Microsoft President Brad Smith provided the following statement in reaction to the news about the FTC's new legal actions:
"Today’s action by the FTC to file suit in our Activision case in federal court should accelerate the decision-making process. This benefits everyone. We always prefer constructive and amicable paths with governments but have confidence in our case and look forward to presenting it."
Let's go back a little bit now to avoid any misunderstanding. The FTC also brought the first US lawsuit challenging the Microsoft-Activision merger, which is now being tried in FTC court by Judge Michael Chappel.
A federal court in San Francisco, California received the second US lawsuit challenging the agreement. This is the case that is frequently referred to as the "gamer's lawsuit," and the court has already thrown it out for lack of evidence. Since then, they have re-filed.
This third complaint was brought by the FTC and was filed in San Francisco, California, as well. This case stands out from the others since it includes an injunction and restraining order.
After all that, you might be asking why Microsoft is so pleased to be dealing with three US lawsuits right now.
If you've been paying attention to this story, you might already be aware of what's happening. Microsoft is certain that it will win this latest FTC action in federal court, as Brad Smith put it plainly.
And once they do obtain a favorable ruling, it will 'accelerate' the other lawsuits in the US since the other judges will find it difficult to dismiss Microsoft's arguments at that point.
It may also benefit Microsoft in the UK, although based on how things played out there, it appeared like they were also going to succeed there.
Florian observes that all of these efforts, ironically, were taken to prevent the sale from being finalized by July 18. However, as other insiders have noted, Microsoft was already preparing to clinch the transaction before all of these issues were resolved.
As we now know, the justifications being used to prevent the case are weak and run counter to the true interests of the nations and areas the regulators are intended to safeguard. There was a lot of FUD over whether Microsoft could overcome all of these obstacles. Although it won't happen right now, every new development only seems to increase the likelihood that the sale will be completed.