In a relief for Meta, a US court has allowed the company to go ahead with its acquisition of a VR company called Within, despite an ongoing antitrust case against the tech giant by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
After a seven-day hearing, the court denied the FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the acquisition.
“After reviewing the evidentiary record and the parties’ arguments, the court concludes that it is not “reasonably probable” that Meta would enter the market for VR dedicated fitness apps if it could not consummate the acquisition,” read the ruling.
The FTC in July last year sought to block virtual reality giant Meta and Zuckerberg from acquiring Within as Meta is already a key player at each level of the VR sector.
The agency had alleged that Meta and Zuckerberg are planning to expand Meta’s VR empire “with this attempt to illegally acquire a dedicated fitness app that proves the value of virtual reality to users.”
The US court, however, has now ruled in favor of Meta, giving the FTC time to appeal.
The Within VR company owns the popular fitness app ‘Supernatural’.
Supernatural offers a variety of high-quality workouts set to music, including tracks from A-list artists like Katy Perry, Imagine Dragons, Lady Gaga, and Coldplay, and is virtually located in striking, photorealistic locales, like the Galapagos Islands.
Meta recently acquired the Netherlands-based 3D smart glass maker Luxexcel, as it doubles down on its metaverse dream in 2023.
