Microsoft: Activision Blizzard Acquisition is 'Moving Fast' for a Deal of Its Size - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 19 May 2022 / 2,958 Views
Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith in an interview with Belgian website L'Echo and translated by Wccftech said the Activision Blizzard acquisition is "moving fast" for how big the deal is and it is now entering the middle stages.
"It's moving fast, at least fast enough for an acquisition of this size," said Smith. "We have received requests for information on this subject here in Brussels, but also in London and Washington. We answer questions, we give briefings and we provide the information requested.
"One of our attorneys summed it up nicely by saying, "We're coming to the end of the beginning and now we're entering the beginning of the middle." It's a long process and we're still at the stage where we're answering questions. For us, of course, the sooner it is done the better, but we will respect the process."
Microsoft in January of this year announced it is acquiring Activision Blizzard in a deal worth $68.7 billion. IPs that will be owned by Microsoft once the deal closes include Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush, Tony Hawk, Diablo, Overwatch, Spyro, Hearthstone, Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, StarCraft, and many more.
Activision Blizzard shareholders have voted to approve Microsoft's acquisition of the gaming giant. More than 98 percent of the shares voted in favor of the acquisition at $95.00 per share.
The acquisition still acquires the approval from the FTC, which are currently investigating the biggest acquisition in gaming and Microsoft history.
The deal isn't expected to close until Microsoft's next fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Still going down as a massive "wtf" moment in gaming history... Not often you see a company casually drop almost $70 Billion smacko's and buy another company out.
Wonder if this means if everything continues moving the way it has been, as well as barring any objections from the FTC, if the deal may become finalized by this holiday season?
That's true! Other than adding the entire back catalog of games to Game Pass, that most likely gave a nice boost to subscriber numbers, Xbox really hasn't reaped many benefits yet from the ZeniMax deal. And that's been finalized for over a year now. Who would've thought that the first Bethesda game to come to Xbox after finalizing the deal would be Deathloop? A game that contractually couldn't be on Xbox for a year after launch, and Xbox already owned ZeniMax at the time of Deathloop's release.
For me it means winning a bet on one of Ryuu's polls, everything else is secondary.
Just to clarify one thing, FTC "cannot" object to it or block it :)
And while it is very unlikely they would do that, what they can do is sue them to actually have the court preventing it (and Microsoft can fight it).
As for the timeframe, I think it is a possibility.
Correct, the FTC cannot block a merger, they can sue to have it blocked in court. What usually happens is that the FTC will threaten to sue if they think something is wrong with the deal, and then they will use that to extract concessions or use the threat of prolonged legal action to give investors cold feet.
But if the FTC does sue and a company says “fine we will go to court”, the FTC has to prove in a court of law that the merger damages market competition or violates some other regulations, which is a very high bar to clear
Yah and for a USD$68B deal (and the ramifications of falling through including penalties etc.), Microsoft would go for it anyway and the FTC probably knows that. (again, this is very unlikely from the start but for the sake of conversation :)).
And like you are pointing out, the burden is on the FTC side in court which makes it even harder for that kind of deal esp. knowing that on the monopoly issue is almost out of the equation. The other thing being the equity I believe in the gaming industry in general but that is another long shot.
I have a company if they have another 68B spare.
Do you have World of Warcraft?
Essay Pro