California federal judge It has rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to block Meta from acquiring VR startup Within for a year. Estimate $400 million.All decisions except greenSparks one of Meta’s biggest acquisitions in years, marking a major win for the company and crushing defeat A tech-critical FTC in the Biden era.
decision, according to Bloomberg has dismissed a preliminary injunction from San Jose U.S. District Judge Edward Davila to block the FTC’s deal. However, the meta has yet to win.Davila reportedly issued another temporary injunction, preventing Meta from completing the trade until Feb. 7, giving the FTC six days to retire. appeal the decision;
Meta did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment. The FTC declined to comment.
The FTC is Complaint In its complaint, the FTC accused Meta of buying Within to stifle competition in the VR fitness space. Popular is the company behind the popular VR fitness app Supernatural. compete with meta itself beat saber fitness games. meta is already dominate Consumer VR hardware and rapidly expanding VR app store. acquisition, regulators claimedwould bring the meta one step closer to achieving VR exclusivity.
“Having Meta acquire Supernatural would consolidate the makers of two of the most important VR fitness apps and eliminate lucrative competition between Meta’s Beat Saber app and Within’s Supernatural app.” says the FTC complaint.
G/O Media can earn commissions
However, Meta has denied that claim, saying the acquisition would actually benefit both VR consumers and developers and increase competition.in the past statementMeta criticized the FTC’s efforts as “based on ideology and speculation” and said failing to reach a deal would send a “chilling message” to developers in the VR community. .the old meta agreed to delay Acquisition until January 31st.
Now all eyes are on the FTC to decide whether to appeal.If so, the agency and Meta may be ready for a legal war of attrition, with one Meta not showing much interest in sticking around. testimony Last month, Meta’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, said the VR space was moving too fast for Meta to participate in the lengthy legal battle.
“If this deal doesn’t close in a timely manner, it will probably just walk away,” Bosworth said.
