22 House Republicans Call on FTC to Drop Opposition to Xbox’s Activision Blizzard Merger
Several Republicans in the US House of Representatives have drafted a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asking regulators to resolve their ongoing legal battle with Microsoft over the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
of letteraddressed to FTC Chairman Lina Khan, Slaughter, and Bedoya, calling on them to drop their antitrust lawsuits against Microsoft and calling the agency a “sensible consumer-oriented monopoly.” It calls for a return to the long history of prohibition law enforcement.”
“The FTC’s lawsuit against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision is a series of apparently aimed at sabotaging legitimate mergers and acquisitions while ignoring decades of FTC practices entrenched across Republican and Democratic administrations. It is the latest in a series of actions by the “Rather than protect competition, as Congress intended, the Federal Trade Commission is trying to block agreements that promise to expand consumer choice and cut dominant foreign companies from competition. spent.”
Last week, the FTC was denied a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that sought to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. The authorities have since attempted to appeal the decision. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dismissed the appeal. Despite the loss in federal court, the FTC is still trying to block Microsoft from completing the deal as regulators schedule evidence hearings before an administrative law judge. August 2.
The House Judiciary Committee held hearings last week focused on the FTC. During the hearing, Khan testified before the committee on a number of topics, including the FTC’s recent loss to Microsoft. Rep. Kevin Kiley (Republican, California) accused Khan of wasting tax dollars and criticized the FTC’s failure in the recent merger trial.
Taylor is a reporter for IGN. You can follow her on her Twitter @TayNixster.
