New York (EFE).- The Microsoft company and the video game company Activision Blizzard have announced this Wednesday that they are delaying the merger operation (through which Microsoft absorbs Activision) for a period of 3 months, until October 18.
The delay became known when Activision announced its quarterly results this Wednesday -the expected date to formalize that purchase-, in which they insisted that they remain “focused on the long-term opportunities” that lie ahead upon completing their merger with Microsoft.
But in view of the delay, Activision announced that it was canceling the post-results conference, where more details of the reason for the delay could have been known, predictably linked to the resolution of possible lawsuits in the United States and the United Kingdom, according to specialized media.
On July 10, a federal judge in California (USA) gave the green light to the disputed purchase that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had tried to stop. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, who temporarily halted the deal last month, listened to the parties for five days and on Wednesday she rejected an FTC motion to temporarily halt the purchase.
In the 53-page decision, Corley noted that the FTC has not convincingly demonstrated that the transaction will harm competition, while the parties have instead provided evidence that it will be beneficial to consumers.
Microsoft and Activision, a merger with obstacles
Microsoft announced in February 2022 the purchase of Activision for almost 69,000 million dollars, in what would be the largest acquisition of the technology giant and the largest operation of its kind in the video game sector.
But the FTC filed a lawsuit in December, pointing out that the operation would allow Microsoft to reduce competition in the video game sector by controlling important franchises developed by Activision such as “Warcraft”, “Call of Duty” or “Candy Crush”.
Although the FTC has lost this battle, the operation still has obstacles, since the regulator can appeal this decision -something that it has already suggested it will do- and, apart from that, Microsoft has yet to resolve the purchase block in the United Kingdom.