Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) will defend its $69 billion acquisition of “Call of Duty” producer Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI.O) in a private antitrust action filed by video gamers in San Francisco federal court on Friday.
At the hearing, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Corley will consider a preliminary injunction against the acquisition.
If completed, the gambling deal would be the largest. Microsoft’s lawyers have asked Corley to deny banning the deal because it benefits gamers.
“Plaintiffs request the unprecedented. “They have not cited a single case where a court has enjoined a merger based on alleged harms claimed by a few individual consumers,” Microsoft’s lawyers told Corley in a May 5 court filing. U.S., E.U., U.K., and international competition law authorities are closely monitoring the agreement, announced in January 2022.
After failing to address competition concerns, Britain’s antitrust regulator blocked Microsoft’s takeover in April.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is reviewing the deal’s case. Plaintiffs’ lawyer Joseph Alioto said the gamers had a “very strong complaint” against the transaction.
Microsoft’s representative called the plaintiffs’ complaint “unsupported and implausible claims about the deal’s effect on competition.” Private consumers can sue planned purchases under U.S. antitrust laws.
In March, Corley rejected an earlier plaintiffs’ case as “insufficient.” Instead, she let the plaintiffs submit a stronger complaint. Monday’s plaintiffs’ lawyers urged Corley to stop the purchase to allow a trial on the acquisition’s merits.
“The loss of competition cannot be reclaimed,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote in court. “Unwinding the merger after consummation is highly problematic and disfavored, making divestiture post-consummation significantly more difficult.” Demartini v. Microsoft Corp., 3:22-cv-08991, is the case.
