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WASHINGTON聽–聽Time is running out on a deadline for聽Microsoft聽to complete its $69 billion acquisition of聽Activision聽Blizzard, compelling the companies to聽ask聽a US聽judge聽on Wednesday to quickly get the ball rolling on the Federal Trade Commission’s legal bid to block the deal.
US District聽Judge聽Edward Davila on Tuesday had set a June 22-23 evidentiary hearing in San Francisco and temporarily blocked the companies from completing the deal pending a decision聽by another聽judge聽on the same court聽on whether to grant a preliminary injunction.
The hearing will focus on whether to put the deal on hold while an administrative聽judge聽considers the case. But the companies said if a temporary hold is granted they would have to drop the deal altogether because the “glacial” pace of the聽FTC聽review would make waiting impractical.
“Time is of the essence,” the companies wrote in a court filing, noting聽that the agreement聽has a termination date of July 18 and contains a $3 billion termination fee聽that聽Microsoft聽would have to pay.
“Let there be no doubt, a preliminary injunction ruling is the only decision that matters under these challenging deadlines.”
The聽FTC聽declined to comment.
The companies聽asked the court to聽schedule聽a minimum of five days聽for an evidentiary hearing beginning聽on June 22 and running through the week of June 26. They also聽asked for a case management conference to be set for Thursday but emphasized they were not seeking to delay a resolution by聽asking for a longer evidentiary hearing.
If the court grants the聽FTC聽preliminary injunction “it will effectively block the transaction because the聽FTC’s聽process is ‘glacial’ and one no substantial business transaction could ever survive,”聽Microsoft聽and聽Activision聽wrote citing a 1986 case.
The hearing in the聽FTC聽administrative proceeding is set to begin Aug. 2.
The聽FTC聽has argued the transaction would give聽Microsoft’s video game console Xbox exclusive access to聽Activision聽games, leaving Nintendo聽7974.T聽consoles and Sony Group Corp’s聽6758.T聽PlayStation out in the cold.
Microsoft’s bid to acquire the “Call of Duty” video game maker was approved by the EU in May, but British competition authorities blocked the takeover in April. – Reuters
