FTC Accused of Siding With Sony Over Microsoft Activision Deal

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair Lina Khan has been grilled by lawmakers for allegedly siding with Sony over the Microsoft Activision deal. Khan appeared at a congressional hearing on Tuesday, discussing a number of topics among which the issue of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard came up a few times.

FTC’s response to lawmakers regarding Microsoft Activision deal

Several videos circulating on Twitter show multiple lawmakers quizzing Khan about siding with Sony despite its dominant position, in response to which Khan said that as a matter of policy, the FTC obtains feedback from market players who are likely to be impacted by mergers and acquisitions irrespective of their size.

Khan said that she’s not in a position to go into specifics about the deal because a decision has yet to be made, but argued that the FTC makes its own independent judgments based on law and facts.

On one occasion, Khan was quizzed about the FTC coordinating with foreign regulators to block U.S. companies from mergers and acquisitions, to which Khan said that the FTC liaises with counterparts in other countries but denied that it’s to the detriment of U.S. companies.

U.K. regulator Competition and Markets Authority will be the first to reach a decision regarding Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard on April 26th.