The FTC has granted Microsoft’s and Activision’s request to drop their case with the FTC administrative law judge.
In this case, it was not Lina Khan, but FTC secretary April Tabor, who withdrew said case, reports Channel News Asia.
As we had reported yesterday, Microsoft and Activision made the formal request on paper, pointing out that it was in line with the agency’s Rule 3.26. Because the FTC already lost their other federal court case under District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, that rule required them to withdraw this internal case.
Of course, it was also in the public interest that the FTC withdraws the case, because the FTC’s internal courts would be superseded by the ruling that had already been made by the federal court.
The FTC judge assigned to this case, Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell, himself made a public comment on the situation before Microsoft put in their request. Judge Chappell considered this case a waste of time and energy, again, because of the federal court ruling.
Since Microsoft and Activision had successfully argued that this request was a matter of the FTC’s internal procedures, there really wasn’t much that the FTC can do. It’s likely that the case isn’t going to reopen again before Microsoft and Activision finalize their merger deal.
As you may have read in analyses of the FTC’s actions in this deal, FTC chair Lina Khan pursued these lawsuits with the intent to block big company mergers. Khan wants to redraw the FTC’s entire mandate, from the current standard of consumer protection, to having more control over the actions of big companies.
However, she had faced opposition not only from Microsoft and Activision themselves, but many other stakeholders, for her simplistic analysis of the situation. Just yesterday we reported on how union leaders were directly criticizing Khan for not putting Activision Blizzard King’s workers in consideration.
Khan has also found that other people in US government, such as Democrat federal Judge Corley, did not agree with her intent to expand the agency’s mandate, and rejected the FTC’s injunction request.
Khan has also faced criticism from Democrat and Republican representatives alike, for the perception that she had been protecting Japanese company Sony by going after Microsoft in this deal.
This case has been a resounding loss, and a stunning rebuke to Lina’s cause. Beyond Microsoft and Activision themselves, this compounds the other court losses her FTC has received, and may affect her future in the agency.
