Microsoft and CMA pause appeal battle to negotiate on Activision Blizzard deal

Earlier this afternoon, a US judge blocked the FTC's request for an injunction to stop Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. With this loss, the only regulator standing to stop the deal from closing immediately is the UK's CMA. Within an hour of the US court decision coming down, Microsoft has revealed that it has agreed to pause its legal battle with the CMA to negotiate. 

In a statement published at 4:59PM BST, Microsoft President, Brad Smith, said: “After today's court decision in the U.S., our focus now turns back to the UK. While we ultimately disagree with the CMA's concerns, we are considering how the transaction might be modified in order to address those concerns in a way that is acceptable to the CMA”.

The statement continues on to say: “In order to prioritise work on these proposals, Microsoft and Activision have agreed with the CMA that a stay of the litigation in the UK would be in the public interest”. Both Microsoft and the CMA have let the Competition Appeal Tribunal know of this decision.

Microsoft's original agreement with Activision had a closing date of July 18th baked in. This could potentially be extended for a short period of time now that the CMA and Microsoft are talking things over, but Activision has made it clear that it does not want a long-term extension on the deal date.

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KitGuru Says: We don't know how long this process will take but it sounds like Microsoft and the CMA will end up working things out now that Microsoft has won its court case against the FTC. With how things are going, I would expect Microsoft to officially own Activision Blizzard within the next few weeks. 

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