Microsoft Corp., which had expected to complete its $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc. by June 30, said it can no longer comment on the timing after the US Federal Trade Commission sued to block the deal on the grounds that it would hinder competition.
Microsoft spokesman David Cuddy on Friday said the company is now declining to comment on the timing of the transaction for the video-game publisher. The FTC on Thursday said it would sue to halt the acquisition, and scheduled its in-house trial to begin on Aug. 2, 2023.
In prior merger challenges in the agency’s in-house court, the judge issued an initial decision 7 to 12 months after the trial began, said Jennifer Rie, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Still, the FTC would need to separately sue in federal court if it wants Microsoft to put off closing the deal until after the trial is over. The company is also facing questions about the deal from European and UK regulators.
