{"id":2066224,"date":"2023-10-13T11:59:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T15:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/microsoft-closes-69-billion-activision-deal-after-britains-nod\/"},"modified":"2023-10-13T12:00:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T16:00:43","slug":"microsoft-closes-69-billion-activision-deal-after-britains-nod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/microsoft-closes-69-billion-activision-deal-after-britains-nod\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft seals $69B Activision acquisition with UK approval."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmicrosoft-closes-69-billion-activision-deal-after-britains-nod%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2066224&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p><span class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__small__1kGq2\" data-testid=\"Text\">By <\/span>Paul Sandle<span class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__small__1kGq2\" data-testid=\"Text\">, <\/span>Yadarisa Shabong<span class=\"text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__small__1kGq2\" data-testid=\"Text\"> and <\/span>Aditya Soni<\/p>\n<p>October 13, 2023 \u2013 \u20622:58 \u2063PM UTC<\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-3\" style=\"min-width: 320px; min-height: 50px; text-align: center;\">  \t<script>  \t\tgoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-3'); });  \t<\/script>  <\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-slot__ad-label\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>LONDON (Reuters) \u2013 Xbox \u200cmaker Microsoft (MSFT.O) closed\u2062 its $69 billion deal for Activision\u2062 Blizzard (ATVI.O) on \u2064Friday, swelling its heft in the video-gaming market with best-selling \u200btitles including \u201cCall of\u2063 Duty\u201d to better compete with industry leader Sony (6758.T).<\/p>\n<p>Originally unveiled in January 2022, \u200bthe biggest deal in the gaming industry cleared its final\u200c big hurdle \u2013 an approval from Britain \u2013 earlier in \u2063the day after Microsoft agreed to sell streaming\u200b rights\u200d for Activision\u2019s games to allay competition concerns.<\/p>\n<p>The completion is a major win for the \u2064U.S. tech firm in its push to attract more people to its Xbox consoles and Game Pass subscription\u200d service. \u2062Microsoft\u2019s gaming revenue trails that of Sony, whose PlayStation consoles outsell the Xbox.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday is a good\u200d day \u2063to play,\u201d \u2063Microsoft Gaming\u2063 CEO Phil Spencer said in a post on \u2063the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter. He will oversee the Activision business, with the video-game publisher\u2019s CEO Bobby Kotick staying on until end-2023.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote data-service=\"twitter\" data-category=\"marketing\" data-placeholder-image=\"https:\/\/c3.oann.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/complianz-gdpr\/assets\/images\/placeholders\/twitter-minimal.jpg\" class=\"cmplz-placeholder-element twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Today\u2063 is a good day to play. We\u2063 officially welcome Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox. Together, we\u2019ll create stories and experiences \u2063that bring players together, in a culture empowering everyone\u200d to do their best work and celebrate diverse\u2062 perspectives. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KBCESknYYh\">https:\/\/t.co\/KBCESknYYh<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jTHOeH48Wx\">https:\/\/t.co\/jTHOeH48Wx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Phil Spencer \u200c(@XboxP3) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/XboxP3\/status\/1712816031423729991?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-service=\"twitter\" data-category=\"marketing\" async data-cmplz-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Spencer has touted the purchase as a way for\u200d Microsoft to break into the \u2062more than $90-billion market for mobile games.<\/p>\n<p>Activision \u200dmakes popular mobile titles including \u200d\u201cCandy Crush Saga\u201d and \u201cCall of Duty Mobile\u201d \u2013 games that were excluded\u2063 from the\u200d cloud streaming deal Microsoft signed with France\u2019s Ubisoft \u2062Entertainment \u2062(UBIP.PA) \u200dto secure approval from Britain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMicrosoft instantly has more than $3\u2062 billion of \u2062mobile \u2064revenues,\u201d said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael\u2064 Pachter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe big benefit is that Microsoft has a vision that they are going to deliver games through a subscription, and they need more content to give subscribers. So, this is a big step\u200b toward having sufficient\u2064 content,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">REGULATORY HURDLES<\/h2>\n<p>The deal still \u2063faces opposition from \u2064the U.S. Federal\u2063 Trade Commission, which failed in its\u2062 previous attempt to block the purchase. The FTC said\u2062 on Friday it was focused on its \u2062appeal, but would \u201cassess\u201d Microsoft\u2019s\u2064 agreement with \u2064Ubisoft.<\/p>\n<p>But analysts believe that will change little. \u201cThe impact of an FTC challenge will be \u2063limited to incremental concessions in \u200cthe future,\u201d D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said.<\/p>\n<p>The main hurdle came from Britain\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority, which had \u2064originally blocked the deal in April over concerns it could give the U.S. tech giant a stranglehold on the nascent cloud gaming market.<\/p>\n<p>The deal was the\u200c biggest test of\u2064 the \u2064CMA\u2019s global power to take on the \u2062tech giants since \u2062Britain left the European Union.<\/p>\n<p>The regulator said on Friday \u201csticking to its \u2064guns\u201d in\u2064 the face of criticism from the merging companies had delivered an outcome that was better for competition, consumers and \u200deconomic growth.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft\u2019s concession on streaming was a \u201cgame changer\u201d, the CMA \u200bsaid, \u2063adding that it was the\u2062 only competition agency globally to have delivered this outcome.\u202f<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe new \u200cdeal will stop Microsoft from\u200c locking up competition in cloud gaming as this\u2064 market takes\u2063 off, preserving competitive prices and services for \u2062UK \u200dcloud gaming customers,\u201d \u2064it said in \u2064a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The CMA\u2019s block had drawn fury from the merging parties, with Microsoft saying that Britain was closed for \u2062business.<\/p>\n<p>The British government only offered limited\u2064 support to the CMA, with Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt saying that while he did not\u200c want\u200c to undermine its independence, regulators also needed to focus on encouraging investment.<\/p>\n<p>CMA Chief Executive Sarah \u2063Cardell said the regulator had \u201cdelivered a clear message to\u200c Microsoft that the \u2064deal would be blocked unless they comprehensively addressed \u2062our concerns and we stuck to our guns on that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said the \u200bCMA took \u2064its\u2063 decisions\u200b \u201cfree\u200b from\u2064 political influence\u201d and it would not be \u201cswayed by corporate lobbying\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The CMA would see it as a victory,\u2062 but would need to be careful not to over-regulate the tech sector, Quilter Cheviot equity analyst Ben Barringer said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are\u2062 fears the UK is a bad place to do business and the tech industry in particular will be watching its moves closely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The European\u2062 Commision gave the green light in May when it accepted\u2063 Microsoft\u2019s commitments to license Activision\u2019s games such as \u201cOverwatch\u201d and \u201cWorld of Warcraft\u201d to other platforms.<\/p>\n<p>Reporting by Paul Sandle in London, Yadarisa Shabong,\u2062 Aditya Soni, Yuvraj \u200cMalik and Zaheer\u2064 Kachwala in Bengaluru and Foo Yun\u2062 Chee in Brussls;\u2064 Editing\u2062 by Varun \u2063H K, Kate Holton,\u200b Sonali Paul, Jane Merriman and Sherry Jacob-Phillips<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-4\" style=\"min-width: 320px; min-height: 50px; text-align: center;\">  \t<script>  \t\tgoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-4'); });  \t<\/script>  <\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-slot__ad-label\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urges his\u200b colleagues across the \u200daisle\u200c to quickly elect a new\u200d Speaker. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>Michigan Democrat Congresswoman Rashida\u2064 Tlaib continues to display a\u2063 Palestinian flag outside of her Capitol Hill office, but Ohio congressman\u2063 Max Miller says he\u2019s introduced a bill to make that a violation \u2064of House rules. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>A \u2062new lawsuit filed by\u2064 the America First Legal Foundation reveals that then-Vice President Joe \u2062Biden\u2019s office \u200bemailed his son and\u2063 brother about foreign business more than 29-thousand times. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>A Day of Jihad looms over Friday while Sen. Menendez is charged AGAIN.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>Google said on Thursday that it will \u2064defend users of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/google-to-defend-generative-ai-users-from-copyright-claims\/\" title=\"Google will protect users of generative AI from copyright claims.\">generative artificial-intelligence systems<\/a> in its \u200bGoogle Cloud and Workspace platforms.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>China has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/powerball-player-wins-lotterys-1-76b-jackpot-winning-ticket-sold-in-california\/\" title=\"California sells winning ticket for .76B Powerball jackpot.\">published proposed security requirements<\/a> for firms offering services powered\u2063 by generative artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>Internet companies Google, Amazon and Cloudflare say they have weathered the internet\u2019s largest-known denial\u200c of \u200dservice attack.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>Samsung said its preliminary\u200d third-quarter profit \u200cdropped by a smaller-than-expected\u200c 78%.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \u2063rnrn  <\/p>\n<h2> What steps did Microsoft take to address\u200d competition concerns during the acquisition?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Xbox Maker Microsoft Completes $69 Billion Deal for Activision Blizzard<\/p>\n<p>October 13, 2023 \u2013 \u200c2:58 PM UTC<\/p>\n<p>LONDON (Reuters) \u2013 Microsoft, the maker of Xbox, has successfully closed its $69 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard. This acquisition strengthens Microsoft&#8217;s position in the video gaming market, as \u2064it gains access to popular titles such as &#8220;Call of Duty&#8221; and aims to\u2062 better compete with industry leader Sony.<\/p>\n<p>The deal, which was originally announced in January 2022, faced its final hurdle with approval from Britain \u200dearlier today. In order to address competition concerns,\u2062 Microsoft has agreed to sell streaming rights for Activision&#8217;s games. This move paves\u200c the way for the completion\u200b of the largest deal in the\u200d gaming\u200c industry.<\/p>\n<p>This acquisition is \u200ca significant milestone for Microsoft as it seeks to attract more consumers to its Xbox consoles and \u200dGame Pass subscription \u200dservice. Currently, Sony&#8217;s PlayStation consoles outsell Xbox,\u2064 and Microsoft aims to close that gap through this strategic alliance.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft\u200d Gaming CEO Phil Spencer expressed his excitement about the deal in a post\u2063 on the X social media platform, formerly known\u2064 as Twitter. He stated,\u200c &#8220;Today \u2062is a good day to play.&#8221; Spencer will oversee the Activision business, with Bobby Kotick, the CEO of the video game publisher, remaining in\u200d his position until the end of \u200c2023.<\/p>\n<p>The acquisition has been met\u2062 with positive reactions from the gaming community. Spencer&#8217;s tweet about the deal has garnered attention and engagement, exemplifying the anticipation surrounding this collaboration.\u2064 The post emphasizes Microsoft&#8217;s commitment to creating inclusive and \u200ddiverse gaming experiences that bring players\u200d together.<\/p>\n<p>The completion of the Microsoft-Activision deal marks a significant\u2063 milestone in the ever-evolving landscape of the gaming \u200bindustry. It not only \u2063strengthens Microsoft&#8217;s position but also sets the stage for\u200b increased competition and innovation in the market. As\u2062 gaming continues to rise\u200c in \u200dpopularity and influence, \u200dstrategic alliances\u2063 and acquisitions like this will \u2062shape the future of the \u2063industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>on January 18, 2023, Microsoft&#8217;s acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion was finalized on Friday. This move strengthens Microsoft&#8217;s position in the gaming market, allowing it to rival Sony with popular games like &#8220;Call of Duty.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1911,"featured_media":2066225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[542],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2066224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oann"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1911"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2066224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2066225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2066224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2066224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2066224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}