The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion Wednesday affirming a denial of a preliminary injunction the FTC had sought for Microsoft's now-completed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has lost its appeal of a ruling in its case against Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In 2023, the FTC requested a preliminary injunction to prevent the companies from finalizing the deal while its legal challenge to the acquisition from 2022 was in progress.

The FTC loses its appeal of the ruling in its case against Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which went through in 2023.