FTC Files for TRO, Preliminary Injunction Against Microsoft-Activision Blizzard Deal

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initiated legal action in June 2023 to block Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. By filing for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction in federal court, the agency sought to halt the merger to prevent the companies from finalizing the deal while an internal administrative proceeding determined whether the transaction violated U.S. antitrust laws.

The primary objective of the FTC’s filing was to preserve the status quo, ensuring that the regulatory review process could conclude without the companies integrating their operations. This legal maneuver represented a significant hurdle for the merger, occurring alongside parallel regulatory scrutiny from the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard were simultaneously engaged in preliminary hearings with the CMA to address concerns regarding market competition.

While the U.S. and UK regulatory bodies expressed reservations, the acquisition had already secured approval in several other international jurisdictions. By mid-2023, the deal had been cleared by regulators in the European Union, China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Serbia, Chile, Japan, South Africa, and Ukraine. At the time of the filing, the status of the merger remained pending in New Zealand and Australia, marking the final stages of the global regulatory approval process for the high-profile acquisition.