U.S. appeals court dismisses FTC challenge to Microsoft-Activision deal

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed a district court’s denial of a motion by the Federal Trade Commission for preliminary injunctive relief against Microsoft’s (MSFT) acquisition of the video game developer Activision Blizzard. The panel held that the district court applied the correct legal standards and did not abuse its discretion, or rely on clearly erroneous findings, in holding that the FTC failed to make a sufficient evidentiary showing to establish the requisite likelihood of success on the merits of its claim. Thus, the FTC had not raised serious questions regarding whether the proposed merger was likely to substantially lessen competition in the relevant markets, the court determined.