Microsoft to Lodge Appeal Against CMA’s Activision Acquisition Block “in the Coming Days”

Last week, the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, citing its potential impact on innovation and growth in the cloud gaming space. Shortly after the decision was officially announced, Microsoft and Activision both confirmed that the former would be lodging an appeal with the UK Competition Appeals Tribunal.

Now, The Telegraph is reporting (via Yahoo! Finance) that Microsoft will be lodging its appeal “in the coming days”. Interestingly, the report also states that Microsoft has enlisted the services of Daniel Beard KC, a lawyer who is known for having repeatedly defeated the EU regulator. According to the report, Beard is “a leading competition barrister” who has “overturned multi-billion dollar penalties levied on Apple and Intel by the EU in recent years”.

Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard is facing issues elsewhere as well, with the United States’ Federal Trade Commission (FTC) having filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company in December in an attempt to block the deal.

Recently, it was confirmed that if the deal does fall through, Microsoft will still have to pay Activision a fee of $3 billion.