FTC said to pause trial over Microsoft, Activision merger
Lukas Schulze
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is likely to pause its pending trial over Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) pending $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), potentially allowing settlement talks to go forward.
The FTC needs to withdraw the case after Microsoft (MSFT) and Activision (ATVI) requested the agency drop the case in order for the talks to occur, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The agency is likely to publish an order on it later today.
Once the case is withdrawn, the two companies would be able to persuade the FTC's commissioners to accept a settlement or drop the opposition to the case.
The FTC has been considering its options after it received two defeats in court over the pending merger, which would see Microsoft (MSFT) acquire the Call of Duty maker in its largest acquisition ever. 
Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco denied the antitrust regulator's request for a preliminary injunction to block the mega deal. 
The FTC suffered a second defeat this past Friday when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the FTC's request to temporarily halt the deal while the agency appeals.
Yesterday, Microsoft (MSFT) and Activision (ATVI) extended the merger agreement to October 18 from July 18 to allow more time for the deal to go through and to work through outstanding issues with regulators, including in the U.K.
Activision (ATVI) shares were fractionally higher in late-day trading on Thursday while Microsoft (MSFT) fell 2.5%.
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