FTC drops case over Microsoft's $69-billion Activision Blizzard deal

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission dropped a case that sought to block Microsoft's $69-billion purchase of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard, saying on Thursday that pursuing the case against the long-closed deal was not in the public interest. When challenging a new merger, the FTC typically asks a judge to temporarily block the deal to give the agency time to challenge it in its own administrative court. The Activision Blizzard transaction marked the largest-ever acquisition in the video gaming market.