Today, the US Federal Trade Commission criticized Microsoft for its plans to lay off 1,900 employees in the wake of its Activision Blizzard acquisition. Now, Microsoft has issued a response, saying that these layoffs "cannot be attributed fully to the merger," especially because Activision Blizzard already planned on eliminating a lot of jobs before the deal went through.
Basically, the FTC has argued that since Microsoft is eliminating redundant positions between itself and the incoming Activision Blizzard, it's no longer going to be in a position to divest itself of the new business if regulators decide that's necessary. Importantly, Microsoft said in court that it was going to make sure Activision Blizzard would be able to operate independently in the "unlikely event" it'd be necessary to split the company out again.
