Microsoft shares: gaming industry’s biggest merger deal back on
The proposed $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft seems to be back on track, although there is still a hurdle to go in the UK.
The US Federal Trade Commission and the Competition Markets Authority in the UK had both tried to block the deal, because the combined company would be too dominant. On Friday a US judge rejected final calls to block Microsoft from taking over Activision Blizzard, but in the UK, the CMA is wanting time to consider the proposals from Microsoft to restructure its cloud gaming business.
(Video Transcript)
Activision Blizzard
Now, Microsoft's planned $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard has made a lot of headlines recently in M&A. It's back on to sign the biggest deal of its kind in gaming history. That is, it's on in the States, not here at the moment in the U.K and the Competition Markets Authority has its own doubts. I want to show you the chart for Microsoft.
The Competition Markets Authority
First of all, it trades all sessions on the platform open in a short while. this morning, UK time here, but open at $344.98. And indeed, on Friday, this stock managed to create a new intraday record high. The Federal Trade Commission and the Competition Markets Authority in the U.K. had both tried to block the deal because the combined company would just be too dominant, and this would continue to fuel the size of Microsoft now.
On Friday, a US judge rejected the final calls to block Microsoft from taking over Activision Blizzard . But in the U.K the Competition Markets Authority (CMA), wants time to reconsider the proposals from Microsoft to restructure its cloud gaming business.
Now, on the other side of this, it does have a potential effect on Activision Blizzard. And you can see here that this company has seen some enormous gains recently. When that first deal was first mooted, going back to March this year, you can see the big gap that it had.
Federal Trade Commission
Then the question mark started to come through. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the CMA are both asking some serious questions about this. But since then, it's all back in. Back in April, the CMA said the combination of the maker of Xbox consoles with the creator of hit games, including Call of Duty and Diablo, would give it the ability to undermine new and innovative competitors.
The CMA has pushed back its July 18 deadline for it to block the deal until August 29. After receiving a detailed and complex submission from Microsoft. It will be interesting to see where these two stocks open on Monday.
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