FTC Loses Microsoft-Activision Challenge, $69 Billion Merger Approved Despite Opposition

Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied the Federal Trade Commission’s motion for a preliminary injunction to block Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard on July 10, 2023. The FTC had voted to file a legal challenge on December 8, 2022, arguing the vertical merger would substantially lessen competition in the video game industry. However, Judge Corley held that the FTC failed to show a likelihood it would prevail on its claim that the merger may substantially lessen competition. The Ninth Circuit denied the FTC’s emergency appeal to block the merger on July 14, 2023. Microsoft closed the deal on October 13, 2023, after receiving approval from most international regulatory bodies. The FTC continued pursuing an administrative challenge, but the Ninth Circuit ruled on May 7, 2025, to deny the FTC’s request for an injunction, and the FTC finally dropped the case on May 22, 2025. The Microsoft-Activision loss represented the most high-profile defeat of the Khan-Kanter era and exposed the difficulty of challenging major tech mergers under existing antitrust law with a conservative judiciary. The case demonstrated that even bipartisan concern about Big Tech dominance was insufficient to overcome judicial deference to the consumer welfare standard and skepticism of vertical merger theories. The loss emboldened other tech companies to pursue acquisitions and highlighted the need for congressional action to update merger statutes—action that never came.