Microsoft Is Undermining Activision’s Independence With Latest Layoffs, FTC Says
Microsoft’s recent announcement of 1,900 layoffs within its Xbox division, including Activision Blizzard employees who joined Microsoft with the buyout, has prompted the United States government to call Microsoft out. The US’ Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in a memo (via The Verge) that the layoff plan “contradicts” how Microsoft represented itself in its proceedings to get the deal done in the first place.
Microsoft’s $74.5 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard is already done, but the FTC said it is trying to temporarily pause the buyout pending the FTC’s judgment of it on antitrust merits.
“Microsoft’s recently reported plan to eliminate 1,900 jobs in its video game division, including in its newly acquired Activision unit, contradicts the foregoing representations it made to this court,” FTC counsel Imad D. Abyad said.