Regulators backtrack on Microsoft and Activision Blizzard merger
Attempts by antitrust regulators to stall a merger between Microsoft and video game giant Activision Blizzard have run aground. One hour after a judge in San Francisco tossed out the US Federal Trade Commission’s request for an injunction, the UK regulator started to backtrack on its outlier decision to block the $75 billion deal. The reversals are a major win for Microsoft’s ambitions in “cloud gaming”. But this also represents a potential reckoning for the FTC. Questions are being asked about the interventionist stance of chair, Lina Khan, who came in two years ago with a bold promise to take big tech to court. Both companies are now racing to close the deal before 18 July, before regulators ask for more concessions. Most investors are betting they will succeed – and that the emergence of a “Netflix for gaming” will kickstart an entire industry.