The U.S. Federal Trade Commission dropped a case that sought to block Microsoft's $69-billion purchase of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard, saying on Thursday that pursuing the case against the long-closed deal was not in the public interest. The FTC lost an appeal on May 7 seeking to reverse a judge's decision declining to block the deal, which closed in 2023. When challenging a new merger, the FTC typically asks a judge to temporarily block the deal to give the agency time to