After spending a considerable amount of time under investigation by the European Commission, Microsoft is slated to defend its acquisition of Activision Blizzard at a closed hearing slated for February 21.
According to Yahoo! Finance, Microsoft asked for the hearing after the European Commission released statements of objection to the company about potential anti-competitive outcomes from the acquisition.
The European Commission isn’t the only governing body investigating the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard deal. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has also been investigating the deal. Analysts, however, believe that the CMA’s most recent report might be signal that the governing body doesn’t have a winning legal argument.
If the deal does fall through, recent rumours have indicated that the current CEO of Activision Blizzard—Robert Kotick—will remain with the company in his current position. Kotick is currently in the position while Microsoft’s acquisition is still in process, and it is believed that he will step down as CEO.