Britain hands Microsoft’s Activision deal an extra life
Merging companies have long seen Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority as something of an end-ofmicrosoft-activision-blizzard-and-the-future-of-gaming.html” title=”Microsoft, Activision-Blizzard and the way forward for gaming”>-level boss. For two years running the CMA has blocked more deals than any other regulator, scotching ones like Meta’s acquisition of Giphy, a blameless meme-generator. This year it has been busy again, in April blocking Microsoft’s $69bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a video-game maker, which had looked on track for approval elsewhere.
Is the fearsome trustbuster preparing to fold? On July 11th an American court cleared the Microsoft-Activision transaction, leaving Britain as the holdout. Within hours the CMA said it was prepared to examine a “modified” version of the transaction. Activision’s share price shot up: investors think it is game on.
Some see the CMA’s recent activism as a show of post-Brexit independence. A blander explanation is that companies are unused to British antitrust regulators (who before Brexit took a back seat to Brussels), increasing the risk of confusion and surprises. Tech firms find the CMA’s processes rigid, with little scope for negotiation. Microsoft was blindsided by its April ruling on Activision.
2023-07-13 07:58:53
Article from www.economist.com