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A federal appeals court has rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) challenge to Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the maker of Call of Duty. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a previous ruling, denying the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction to block the deal, which was finalized in 2023.
The unanimous decision from a three-judge panel affirmed that the lower court had applied the appropriate legal standards. The court found that the FTC failed to demonstrate a likelihood of proving their case. This ruling marks another setback for the FTC’s efforts to prevent the merger, which they argued would harm competition in the gaming market.
