Microsoft’s appeal against the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s decision to reject its Activision Blizzard deal has been given a preliminary 24th July start date.
The CMA made the shock decision to block Microsoft proposed $69bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard in April, highlighting concerns relating to the burgeoning cloud gaming sector and arguing the deal would risk “stifling competition in this growing market”.
And now, following the recent publication of Microsoft’s summary of application to appeal the CMA’s decision – in which it accused the UK regulator of making “fundamental errors in its assessment” – the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal has held a case management conference to iron out preliminary details of the hearing between Microsoft and the CMA.
Ultimately, despite Microsoft pushing for a June hearing and the CMA’s legal representation arguing for a later date, the Honourable Mr Justice Marcus Smith, presiding for the CAT, moved to provisionally schedule the hearing for the ten working days beginning 24th July.