It’s now more than a year since Meta announced that it was buying VR startup Within, maker of music/fitness app Supernatural, but the deal has yet to close. That’s because US regulator the FTC wants to block the acquisition on competition grounds: a case that is currently being heard in court.
As part of that, it has emerged that Meta has delayed the planned closure of the acquisition by a month. Reuters reported that the company does not expect it to happen before 31 January, or until the court rules on the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction.
As we’ve reported before, the FTC is arguing that buying Within would be an anticompetitive attempt to seize control of the VR fitness market, although some of its claims (for example that Beat Saber, which is already owned by Meta, is a fitness app) have been challenged.