Microsoft recently celebrated its victory against the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in court after the FTC’s request for an injunction was rejected… but that wasn’t enough for them.

The FTC has appealed Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s decision, as they don’t want Microsoft to close the $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard King before the deadline of July 18 (after which the Redmond-based company will have to pay the publisher a $3 billion fee as a fine). Still, as things stand, it could happen by July 17. The Trade Index has announced that it will remove Activision Blizzard, which is listed as ATVI, from the Nasdaq-100 indexes.

“The District Court’s ruling clarifies that this acquisition benefits both competition and consumers. We’re disappointed that the FTC is continuing to pursue what has become a demonstrably weak case, and we will oppose further efforts to delay the ability to move forward,” Microsoft president Brad Smith wrote on Twitter. On behalf of Activision Blizzard King, Lulu Cheng Meservey, the publisher’s vice president of corporate affairs, reflected, “The facts haven’t changed. We’re confident the U.S. will remain among the 39 countries where the merger can close. We look forward to demonstrating the strength of our case in court – again.”

The UK is the other country where Microsoft has not yet received regulatory approval to add a new publisher (and its IP) to its portfolio. Still, we recently wrote about its relevant agency, the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority), that they are willing to hear Microsoft before a court hearing on July 28 to see if it can make further offers to get the CMA to approve the deal, which they did not in April, and are therefore one step away from agreeing to the Redmond firm’s expansion.

More developments on the FTC and the CMA could come over the weekend – we will report on developments as they happen.

Source: WCCFTech