22 House Republicans Call on FTC to Drop Opposition to Xbox’s Activision Blizzard Merger
Several Republicans in the US House of Representatives have composed a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urging the regulator to drop its ongoing legal feud with Microsoft regarding the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The letter, which was addressed to FTC chair Lina Khan and commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya, calls on these three to drop its antitrust case against Microsoft, requesting the agency “return to its long history of a sensible, consumer-oriented antitrust enforcement.”
“The FTC’s case against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision is the latest in a series of actions that are clearly designed to impede legitimate mergers and acquisitions, while ignoring decades of settled FTC practice across Republican and Democratic administrations,” the letter says. “Instead of protecting competition as Congress intended, the FTC has spent taxpayer resources seeking to block a deal that promises to expand consumer choice and insulate a dominant foreign company from competition.”
Last week, the FTC was denied a preliminary injunction that it tried to get to prevent Microsoft from closing its deal to acquire Activision-Blizzard in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The agency then tried to appeal the decision. However, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the appeal. Despite the losses in Federal Court, the FTC is still attempting to stop Microsoft from closing the deal, as the regulator has scheduled an evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Law judge on August 2.
A hearing was held last week by the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing focused on the FTC. During the hearing, Khan testified before the committee on a number of topics, including the FTC’s recent loss against Microsoft. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) accused Khan of wasting taxpayer dollars and criticizing the FTC’s recent failures in merger trials.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
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