Strict transaction review
Federal Trade Commission chair Lena Khan has long advocated a tougher approach to reviewing deals, especially those from big tech companies that she says can consolidate their dominance in one area of activity to gain greater strength in other markets.
Under Khan’s leadership, the Federal Trade Commission sought to block two major takeover deals – namely:nvidia(Nvidia Corp.) Offered to Purchase Arm Ltd., and a DealLockheed Martin(Lockheed Martin) to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings.
See also: SoftBank shares breathe a sigh of relief after news of the failure of the Arm deal
Microsoft declined to comment on the subject of the investigation, and the Federal Trade Commission did not respond to a letter seeking comment.
The Activision investigation will focus on the integration of the Activision game portfolio into Microsoft hardware and systems.
Regulators will closely examine the possibility that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision could harm competitors by limiting their access to the company’s major games.
US and EU officials approved Microsoft’s latest big acquisition, the $17bn purchase of voice-recognition software company Nuance Communications, last summer. The UK Competition and Markets Authority is still reviewing the deal.