2023-07-11 18:32:29
A favorable decision in California, the start of a collaboration with the British competition authority: Microsoft saw the horizon clear up on Tuesday in its quest to take over the American video game publisher Activision, hitherto stuck in the nets of the regulators.
A federal judge in California first dismissed the US competition authority (FTC)’s request for an immediate suspension of the acquisition, inflicting a first setback on the US government in this case.
The ruling, dated Monday and released Tuesday, relates only to the emergency proceeding filed by the FTC and not the merits of the case, which will be decided at a later date. A hearing is scheduled for the end of August in this case.
The competition authority had launched this procedure in summary on the basis of press articles “suggesting that (Microsoft and Activision) were seriously considering finalizing the acquisition” despite the opposition of several regulators, according to the document filed mid- June.
In addition to the FTC, its British equivalent – the CMA – vetoed this marriage in the name of competition in the “cloud gaming” market (video games played remotely, without downloading).
But Microsoft President Brad Smith nevertheless announced on Tuesday that the group would submit proposals to the CMA to try to “address (its) concerns” about the takeover of Activision “in an acceptable manner”.
“We are ready to consider any proposal from Microsoft to amend the transaction,” the CMA told AFP.
As a sign of appeasement, Microsoft has chosen to suspend the action brought before the British courts against the initial veto of the regulator, which was to be the subject of an appeal hearing at the end of July.
According to CNBC, the group from Redmond (Washington State) has proposed “minor” asset sales to obtain the green light from the CMA.
The European Commission approved this takeover in May.
It would make the computer giant the world’s third-largest player in the sector, with a transaction valued at $69 billion, according to the estimate published when it was first announced in January 2022.
snub
If it is only a summary decision, the recitals of the Californian judgment constitute a snub for the FTC and augur a difficult legal course for the regulator.
“The FTC has not demonstrated that it is able to prove that this transaction was likely to weaken competition in this industry,” federal judge Jacqueline Scott Corley wrote.
“We are grateful to the San Francisco court for this quick and thorough decision and hope that other jurisdictions will continue to work for a rapid resolution” of the disputes still in progress, reacted in a press release the boss of Microsoft, reaffirming the will of the group to “respond to the concerns of regulators”.
“We are disappointed with this decision, given the clear threat this merger poses to online gaming, subscription services and consoles,” FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar told AFP.
“In the coming days, we will announce the next step in our fight to preserve competition and protect consumers,” he added.
Joe Biden’s government has taken a much more offensive stance than most of its predecessors when it comes to protecting competition, with a mixed record so far.
In particular, at the end of October, he obtained the blocking of the takeover of the publishing giant Simon & Schuster by its competitor Penguin Random House or, more recently, the end of the alliance between the airlines JetBlue and American Airlines.
Previously, he had pushed insurance brokers Aon and Willis Towers Watson in 2021 to abandon their union.
On the other hand, it was dismissed in several other cases, in particular the takeover of EverWatch Corp by Booz Allen Hamilton in the defense industry, or that of the virtual reality specialist Within Unlimited by Meta (Facebook).
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