Activision Blizzard to be removed from Nasdaq-100 ahead of planned Microsoft merger

Activision Blizzard will be removed from the Nasdaq-100 index prior to the stock market opening on Monday, July 17.

Naddaq announced today that the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher is set to be replaced on the index by fellow tech company The Trade Desk.

The move comes as Microsoft prepares to close its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, despite still having some hurdles to overcome.

Earlier this week the Xbox maker won a court battle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is seeking to block the deal over antitrust concerns. The regulator has since appealed the ruling.

A temporary restraining order preventing the deal from being completed will expire at 11.59pm on July 14, unless the FTC can secure an extension from the appeals court.

Microsoft wants to get the deal over the line before the current merger agreement expires on July 18, after which Activision Blizzard could walk away with a $3 billion termination fee if an extension isn’t agreed.

To do so, Microsoft would also need to overcome (or defy) a block on the deal from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The CMA, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard announced on Tuesday that they’d paused legal proceedings with a view to reaching an out of court agreement on the merger, after the Xbox firm won its case against the FTC.

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However, while the regulator said it’s ready to consider a restructured deal proposal, it also warned that this process may require it to carry out a fresh merger investigation.

The CMA has a statutory deadline of 40 working days in which to finish the initial stage of its merger review process, casting into doubt whether a fresh investigation could be completed before next week’s deal deadline.