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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has lost what may be its final attempt to block Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard. It\u2019s the second loss for the FTC after a US federal judge denied its request for a preliminary injunction<\/a> earlier this week to block Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard until the conclusion of a separate FTC administrative case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The FTC appealed the decision by Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, and now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied its request<\/a> for emergency relief to prevent Microsoft from closing the deal until the result of the FTC\u2019s appeal is complete. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Microsoft welcomed the denial late on Friday. \u201cWe appreciate the Ninth Circuit\u2019s swift response denying the FTC\u2019s motion to further delay the deal. This brings us another step closer to the finish line in this marathon of global regulatory reviews,\u201d says Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, in a statement to The Verge<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This means Microsoft is now free to close its Activision Blizzard deal after a temporary restraining order, part of Judge Corley\u2019s order, expires at 11:59PM PT tonight. Microsoft has until July 18th to close its deal; otherwise, it may need to renegotiate terms with Activision Blizzard, pay $3 billion in breakup fees if Activision wants to walk away, or simply let the deal deadline naturally extend if both parties are happy to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Microsoft might not be able to close the deal immediately, though. There\u2019s still the complicated matter of the deal being blocked in the UK. The Competition and Markets Authority in the UK blocked Microsoft\u2019s deal earlier this year<\/a>, citing competition fears in the emerging cloud gaming market. Both the CMA and Microsoft have agreed to pause their legal battles<\/a> to figure out how the transaction might be modified\u202fin order to address the CMA\u2019s cloud gaming concerns. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The UK regulator\u00a0also warned this week<\/a>\u00a0that Microsoft\u2019s proposals may \u201clead to a new merger investigation\u201d and that discussions with Microsoft were at an early stage. The CMA has also\u00a0issued a notice of extension<\/a>\u00a0for its overall investigation into the deal earlier today, moving the date for final undertakings or a final order\u00a0from July 18th to August 29th. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n