Things are once again moving rapidly in the Microsoft Activision deal, this time in regards to the FTC federal case that was filed just a few days ago.
As reported by Tom Warren, the San Francisco, CA federal court under District Court Judge Jacqueline Corley has approved a five day evidentiary hearing for the case, coming up in the last two weeks of this month.
The hearing dates will be on June 22 and 23, and then from June 27 to 29, 2023. On June 21, the California court will also hold a status conference, which is just a meeting for all parties to prepare for the hearing itself.
This outcome is good for Microsoft and Activision, and bad for the FTC. Judge Corley did not give the FTC a long period of time to prepare their case against the deal going through, increasing the likelihood that their case will be dismissed.
As we had covered yesterday, this case may be the last card that the FTC can play to block the deal, which has a set deadline of July 18, 2023. However, these dates also change what we had stated about Microsoft getting a chance to finalize the deal as soon as July 3, 2023, which will be the first Monday of that month.
We got that date from Florian Mueller, but today he explained that this FTC federal case can also be appealed. Whether Judge Corley decides in favor of the FTC or Microsoft, there is a five day period where the losing party can file to United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
An appeal under US court will be difficult, whether the FTC or Microsoft files it for their side. It would have to be a similar situation with the CMA case where Judge Corley makes a serious error in her judgement, that would give the appeal something to stand on.
In the situation that the FTC loses this federal case and decides to appeal, they will also have to get another order to put the deal on hold.
The good news for Microsoft is, if they get a ruling in their favor, and the FTC doesn’t file that appeal, after those five days, they will be able to finalize that deal.
Whether there is an appeal or not, that July 18 deadline has compelled all parties to rush their actions, to either complete the deal or block it completely. All eyes are definitely on this case as it goes to a final decision as soon as the end of this month.
