Common man, I just want to see Flouride Muller in a straight jacket being taken away. Nix it!
Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard
- Thread starter Darth Vader
- Start date
"The FTC have no confidence in the CMA."
Yet the CMA were the only regulatory body confident enough to not only block the deal outright but double down on that decision while the FTC is the one fumbling around in the dark.
Yet the CMA were the only regulatory body confident enough to not only block the deal outright but double down on that decision while the FTC is the one fumbling around in the dark.
It's not about confidence it's about empowerment via law.
FTC needs to sue in court and win (both in its administrative one and federal), CMA just needs to issue a decision and then defend it. The deal stays in limbo as long as the appeal is happening too.
OP
OP
AFAIK that's not how it works, but I'm willing to be corrected. My understanding, from reading the filling, is that the final extension for the deal runs out on the 18th of July. If there's no clearance by then by the FTC and the CMA, Microsoft and Activision have three options:
- Move with the deal anyway, which may have awful consequences for both
- Have their shareholders vote on further extensions, which need to be approved on both sides
- Drop the deal
I feel like out of those 3, option 2 is the one that they're the most likely to try.
They seem to be going with 1. and figuring out the deets as they go.
The big issue right now is how much are they willing to challenge both UK and US antitrust laws to get what they want?
From what I've read, they're investigating one, but have yet to decide if going through with it would actually work out for them. I think quite a few things would go wrong for them if they did. A spokesperson of theirs was also asked about this and they said their plan is to just continue appealing, though this may be a lie.
FTC should have just sat back and do nothing until the august court date, cause MS will have to close over the CMA for this to work.
Essentially starting a war with the CMA and possibly CAT, as they just ran a train through UK regulation and the appeal process.
You can even see it from brad smiths tweet when he was saying gloatingly that he is happy that legal proceedings are going to happen much earlier.
FTC got baited hard.
The FTC is doing the prudent thing. If MS has been hinting at closing the deal before the lawsuit begins, the FTC's only play is to go for the injunction. The injunction would freeze MS and Activision in place or inflict sanctions for breaking it.
It is silly to say the FTC screwed up by doing what the situation calls for.
That's if MS is to be believed and strong evidence is found that they are actually going to close it over the FTC and CMA.
Here's some highlight from the FTC complaint.
So the first quote MS could just distance themselves from.
The second quote isn't really proof that they will actually close it. They could, but that's it.
Yeah it makes sense for the FTC to file for an injunction to stop it as a preventive measure. But when they still have the CMA being a massive hurdle, and MS probably aren't that stupid to close over the CMA due to legal action, aswell as CAT kicking them in the ass during an appeal for contempt of the appeal and regulation process. Seems a bit risky.
If it does work out for the FTC, then yeah this could be the nail in the coffin, as ABK will run the other way during negotiation.
Yeah, I personally wouldn't be so quick to call what the FTC did a mistake. If MS were seriously looking to close without/despite the UK as the MLEX leaks were suggesting, this would be the best course of action for the FTC to take. I'm also not really worried about Brad Smith's potentially gloating tweet, as these companies always try to put on a brave face during things like this. Even if the FTC aren't granted an injunction, the CMA still presents a huge problem for MS with this merger.
Hopefully the FTC have been watching this case for a while and can come up with good enough arguments to at least convince a judge to delay MS plans until things can be hashed out in court.
OP
OP
They will not go with 1, absolutely not.
The ones in the UK were moved to August afaik.
OP
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Yeah the UK one i heard was move to august, but he was referring to the FTC and not the august court case either.
Rather them getting a chance to put some arguments forward to fight the injunction.
Here's hoping that whatever judge they end up with isn't the same one that rejected the "Gamer's Lawsuit", though the FTC would probably come with better arguments than the ones those plaintiffs did.
Even if there is no fire to the smoke, filing for the injunction does nothing at all to harm the FTC case, and ensures there won't be any shenanigans from MS and Activision.
They remind me of that lame kid in school with rich parents. That kid has no friends so the parents are gonna try and buy the friends for him. A move like this will ruin AAA gaming when it comes to third party. The quality will fall because of GamePass being attached to it.