A new report says that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) might file a lawsuit against Microsoft for antitrust violations to stop the company from buying Activision Blizzard.
The report, which came from Politico, says that “three people with knowledge of the matter” say the FTC is “likely” to file a lawsuit to stop the $69 billion merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.
According to reports, the FTC is “sceptical” of Microsoft’s reasons for wanting the merger. This is because Sony has said that the deal would be unfair.
Still, there has been no official announcement, and Politico says that the lawsuit “is not guaranteed” to happen. The EU has also been looking into the deal because, if it goes through, it could lead to a monopoly on the market.
In the report, it is also said that the Federal Trade Commission’s recent success in stopping the huge merger of book publishers Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House gave them the confidence to fight this merger.
Microsoft has already replied to the report, basically saying they don’t agree with it at all and will fight it to the death:
“It is completely ridiculous to think that the deal could hurt competition in any way,” the company said (via Kotaku).
“This merger will be good for both gamers and the U.S. gaming industry, which is facing more and more tough competition from other countries. We are committed to continuing to work together with regulators around the world to get the deal done, but if we have to, we won’t be afraid to fight for the deal.
The FTC also helped stop a $40 billion deal between computer hardware company Nvidia and SoftBank to buy ARM.
The deal fell through because of problems with the government. Now, SoftBank plans to put the semiconductor company on the stock market next year.
