Continue there war between the FTC and Microsoft: Although the process has concluded, the FTC has appealed the appeal with the request of block the acquisition until the decision of this grade, although the objective seems to be above all to pass the deadline foreseen for the closing of the operation.
The appeal by the FTC has in fact the purpose, more or less declared, to extend the completion of the acquisition after the one set by Microsoft and Activision Blizzard for July 18, which would imply the need to revise the agreement, with consequent complication of the whole operation.
Following the official appeal request presented by the FTC, in fact, the American antitrust also requested the blocking of the acquisition until after the decision of the appeal procedure, something on which the court will have to express itself in the next few hours.
It is a sort of bet, because it is not easy for the decision to be taken before the deadline set by Activision Blizzard and Microsoft for the closure of the acquisition, which could already take place in the next few hours, considering that the publisher’s title seems to be withdrawn by the Nasdaq index early next week, suggesting an imminent takeover.
In short, this could arrive even before the court makes its decision on the blocking request, regardless of whether the appeal is later accepted and is in favor of the FTC, which is anything but obvious.
The critical points mentioned by the FTC against the verdict
Based on what has been gathered in these hours, it seems that the FTC bases its appeal on a series of main points, which according to the antitrust would demonstrate some errors in the conduct of Judge Corley who dealt with the case and who decided for Microsoft’s victory in court.
In particular, according to the FTC, the judge followed the rules in force for government cases requiring permanent injunctions, and not for preliminary ones as required by the antitrust. Furthermore, the Judge would be wrong to weigh the benefits for Game Pass users above the potential foreclosure of multiple subscription systems.
According to the FTC, the Judge would have relied too much on Microsoft’s proposed agreements for cloud gaming and would have ignored the evidence proposed by the FTC on the incentives Microsoft would have in foreclosing opponents. At this point, we are waiting to see how the issue will develop in the next few hours.
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