Microsoft got sued by FTC in a bid to stop settlement with EU regulatory bodies
As Microsoft prepares to go to court against the US regulatory body, the Federal Trade Commission, here's some new information on these developments. Check out the details here.
With regards to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the tech giant is currently preparing to defend itself in the lawsuit filed by the US Federal Trade Commission. In the latest update, we got to know that Microsoft has now looked to its rival Sony PlayStation for facts to be collated in the defense proceedings. But now, a new twist in the tale has emerged, taking us back to the very event of the FTC filing the lawsuit last December, as new reports surface. The FTC reportedly filed the lawsuit to block the green signal from the regulatory bodies of the European Union. Here are all the details.
Microsoft-Activision acquisition deal- Latest Updates
Ever since Microsoft announced its intentions of acquiring Activision Blizzard last January, the deal has been under scrutiny from regulatory bodies across the world. While some governments have already approved of it, the largest of them yet to get in on it would be the US and the EU. The US regulatory body FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has already sued Microsoft, but latest reports suggest that there’s more to it.
A Bloomberg report from January 26th informs that the FTC sued Microsoft in an attempt to “partly to get ahead of its European counterparts and dissuade them from accepting a settlement allowing the deal, according to people familiar with the investigations.” The complaint was reportedly filed right after the EU and US officials got off a call discussing their probes. It was on this call that the EU officials had hinted about their green signal. The EU officials were reportedly planning to discuss “potential remedies” with Microsoft.
Bloomberg’s sources however does inform that this is regardless of the fact that the commission does not plan to “entertain remedy proposals from the companies until later in the process”. However, look like the FTC sued Microsoft sooner than what was expected of them to send off a message to their European Union counterparts.
Microsoft has until April to complete fact finding in its defense against the FTC. The deal if approved should be closed shortly after that.