FTC Says No Settlement Talks Underway on Microsoft-Activision

The Federal Trade Commission, which is suing to block Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc., isn’t engaged in “substantive discussions” with the company about a settlement, an FTC lawyer told the agency’s in-house judge.

The lawyer, James Weingarten, said Tuesday that the agency is “always open to any settlement proposal,” but that “there are no substantive discussions at this time.”

The antitrust agency challenged the deal in its administrative court on Dec. 8. A trial is expected later this year. Weingarten made the comments at a preliminary hearing, which is standard procedure in ...