Take it all the way where though? The FTC tried to interfere when there was a chance the merger could be blocked, if the PI gets denied then its over and there’s no point in litigating further, these lawsuite cost time and resources and right now we have Lina Khan begging congress for more money while lawyers leave the FTC in droves. Will they continue if they have no shot at stopping the merger? I doubt it
They were all in when they were banking on the EC and CMA to stop the merger and hoped MS would walk away, then they performed their hail mary by filing for a preliminary injunction because there was a chance that they could convince a federal judge that the merger needs to be stopped.
At this point if the PI gets denied…then what? You can continue to litigate in your own internal court wasting time and $ you dont have to waste, and for what? You wouldnt be able to stop the merger, you have less than a 1% chance to force a divesture and it would ultimately end up in front of a federal judge again anyway. Not only that but hypotheticallg speaking in the “getting struck by lightning” chance that the FTC did win in federal court, MS could appeal to the SCOTUS which would absolutely rule against the FTC
Even if the FTC appealed Judge Corley denying their PI there is no way they’d get an appeal and another TRO within 5 days of failing to get a PI.
Theres simply no way the FTC can win off merits so they had to rely on foreign regulators and use delay tactics both which ultimately failed
I do believe theres a chance that if Microsoft closed and the FTC continued their internal administration hearing that we would actually see Microsoft file in federal court about the unconstituionality of the admin process. This isnt a zero risk situation for the FTC either. Once Microsoft closes they have little reason to play along and may actually have incentive to prevent this type of holdup in the future.
I think it is a result of our current political climate and even past the head of the FTC. What is going on now is laws are being created or abolished to create headlines and “wins” and not for the betterment of society. It’s about screwing over “the enemy” and Microsoft just happens to be the enemy in this case.
Good intent is working to get actual progress by getting legislation passed. Good intent is protecting consumers from deals that actually have legal issues.
What is currently happening is frivelous waste of tax dollars with no positive return and a damaged economy because no one knows what an organization thats actively going against lawful deals will do. Add on top of that what is likely collusion and regulatory capture and this FTC is a disaster for all Americans. I’m extremely liberal and am absolutely embarrassed that democratic leadership has done nothing to reign in this catastrophe.
What I meant was that they will probably try to appeal the judge’s decision if they don’t get the PI, I don’t see them just accepting a decision that doesn’t go their way, and there’s a big risk that the deal is dead if they get the PI which would suck.
They will appeal regardless. Microsoft should close anyway as it seems unlikely they can secure a TRO. Microsoft needs to get a move on if the PI is denied.