- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Microsoft on December 8 to block its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
- The deal is Microsoft’s most expensive corporate takeover ever and the largest in video game industry history. Regulators worldwide have scrutinized the acquisition, with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the midst of an investigation.
- “Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals,” said the FTC’s Holly Vedova. “[W]e seek to stop Microsoft from [controlling] a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition […].” Vedova is the director of the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition.
