Earlier this week Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley denied the FTC’s request for an injunction on the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and now the FTC has filed for appeal on that ruling, engadget reports.
What seemed like a mostly done deal will now potentially have one more roadblock. Should the appeal be granted then Microsoft won’t be able to move forward with finalizing the acquisition just yet. Even if the injunction request had been granted, it would have been temporary. But it would have given the FTC some time to get things in order. Preventing the acquisition from proceeding forward prior to the deadline this month.
The FTC’s appeal needed to be submitted by July 14. So it had limited time to file. But it was able to submit its appeal by July 12, and now it simply has to wait for an answer.
The FTC appeal may not affect the Microsoft acquisition
It’s not entirely clear if the FTC’s appeal will do anything at all. But it’s a move the FTC had to make if it wanted any hope of blocking the acquisition.
And there’s a reason the FTC was required to submit the appeal by July 14. That reason being the temporary restraining order that was put in place to pause the acquisition in the interim will expire at 11:59pm PST on July 14. Which means that if the FTC wants to further hamper Microsoft’s efforts to move forward, it will need to be granted an emergency stay on the acquisition by that time.
With that being said, there’s a good chance there will be an answer on the appeal sometime today or tomorrow. It’s also important to note that the deadline for closing the acquisition is July 18, next Tuesday. While Microsoft’s finalization of the buyout is all but guaranteed, it seems pretty likely at this point.
Microsoft has been fighting for this acquisition since early last year. Earlier this year the acquisition was blocked by the UK’s CMA and then approved by EU regulators. The CMA now says it may revisit the possibility of restructuring a deal. But that doing so might result in a new investigation into the merger.