690 billion dollar acquisition is still uncertain? US FTC may take action again, applying for a ban to prevent Microsoft's acquisition of Blizzard.

Last month, the European Union regulatory authorities gave the green light to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. However, this month, the prospect of the acquisition has encountered new threats.

On Monday, June 12, Eastern Time, media reports cited insiders as saying that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the highest antitrust regulatory agency in the United States, will apply for an injunction to seek to block Microsoft's heavyweight deal to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion.

If the news is true, this will be the FTC's second attempt to block Microsoft's largest-ever acquisition deal in its history and in the history of the electronic gaming industry. Last December, the FTC announced that it was suing Microsoft for antitrust violations in its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the world's leading electronic game developer.

The media pointed out that the FTC chose the traditional administrative litigation form of filing a case with the FTC's internal administrative law judge (ALJ) last year, following a similar trial process, with the ALJ making a preliminary ruling, which may be reviewed by the FTC's full commission and voted on. Microsoft may also appeal to the federal court thereafter. If an injunction is applied for, the FTC can directly prevent Microsoft from completing the acquisition before the transaction deadline of July 18. The case will be submitted to the ALJ in August.

Microsoft subsequently told the media that it would welcome the injunction because it would enable the case to be submitted to a federal court judge more quickly.

After the above news came out, Microsoft's stock price, which had fallen in early trading, held onto its gains during the midday trading session on Monday, and even expanded its gains, rising more than 0.4% during the day, with the possibility of continuing to rise for the third consecutive trading day, continuing to move away from the closing low since May 24 set last Wednesday.

When the FTC decided to sue Microsoft last year, it pointed out that Activision Blizzard currently supplies games to a variety of devices, regardless of which device manufacturer they are, and that if Microsoft is allowed to acquire it, this pattern may change.

The FTC expects that Microsoft will control the franchise rights of Activision Blizzard's popular games, thus having both the means and the motive to harm competition, thereby harming consumers, because Microsoft can manipulate Blizzard's pricing, reduce the quality of Blizzard's games on competing game consoles, or players' experiences, change the terms and time of access to Blizzard's games, or prevent competitors from accessing Blizzard's content.

After the FTC's action, European regulators also took action this year. At the end of April, the UK's highest regulatory agency, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), issued a statement opposing Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, stating that the deal harmed competition in the cloud gaming market, and that even if Microsoft adopted its so-called remedial measures, including selling Call of Duty and allowing competitors to provide games on its platform, it would not solve the problem. In May, the EU regulatory agency approved Microsoft's acquisition proposal. The European Commission stated that Microsoft provided remedies in the emerging cloud gaming field, avoiding antitrust concerns of regulatory agencies. The focus of the remedy is to allow users to transmit their purchased Activision Blizzard games on any cloud streaming platform.

Shortly after the EU announced its approval of the acquisition, the CMA stated that the EU's decision was wrong and the UK insisted on its own decision. Sarah Cardell, head of the CMA, said that the EU's approval would allow Microsoft to set terms and conditions for the market for the next decade. Although we recognize and respect the European Commission's right to take a different view, the CMA stands by its decision.

It is worth mentioning that, like the FTC's prosecution trial, Microsoft is also expected to appeal the CME's decision to block its acquisition this summer.