Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

[Ludwig]

Brad Smith will say anything to get this deal done. Even pitting two regulators against each other.

Edit:Bryank75 already posted it

 

[FatKaz]

Alright so yesterday wasn't a dream it did really get blocked.

 

[Gediminas]

New report from MLex:

- Microsoft President Brad Smith took aim at the CMA for blocking the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, saying the decision would affect investment in the UK and was based on a "faulty" understanding of the gaming market.

- He said that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should "look hard at the role of the CMA," and he said the European Commission's approach was far better.

- Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said: "This decision shows how important it is to support competition in the UK, and the UK is absolutely open for business."

- Investors and companies were "probably better off thinking harder about going to the European Union than to Britain," Smith said in an interview on BBC radio. "The impact of this decision is far broader than on Microsoft or this acquisition alone."

- Smith explained that the CMA had taken a narrow view of the gaming market, focused on a "potential concern" about how the "small" business might develop. "The process in Brussels worked far better than what we're now addressing in London."

- "This decision is probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain. It does more to shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we've ever confronted before," Smith said.

- Speaking on the same program, Cardell stressed the potential of the cloud gaming industry and that allowing Microsoft and Activision Blizzard to merge would "really harm the ability of other competing cloud platforms to compete effectively."

- Smith said the watchdog had gone silent on Microsoft two weeks ago, and then the prohibition decision arrived yesterday.

- "This is not the way regulators in Brussels work with companies. You have more of a conversation," he said, adding that Microsoft had made the same offer of concessions to the EU regulator as it did to its British counterpart.

- Cardell rejected the criticism of her office's procedures. "We conducted a lengthy in-depth investigation that took a full six months and Microsoft had ample opportunity to put their case to us."

- "We reached the decision on the basis of a huge amount of engagement. We looked at more than a million documents to reach our final decision," Cardell said.

- Smith said the "English Channel has never seemed wider" regarding the attractiveness of investments and the regulator process.

- Smith described Brussels as "a place where one can sit down and actually have a conversation with the regulators who are accountable to the elected leaders. And the difference we now confront in London, where we have regulators who are not only unelected but unaccountable, and now making decisions that just feel fundamentally unwise."

- According to Brad Smith, "I am optimistic that the European Commission will continue to go forward, as it has signaled in recent weeks and months, that it will regard the very promises that the CMA has rejected as far more appropriate."

his brain dead, man.
it is small or big business, rules apply the same. fucking moron.

 

[Wraith Phantom]

How is the part where. The CMA consulted with the EU,FTC being ignored. These guys have already collaborated their findings. And are clearly aligning.

 

[Gediminas]

where is Peter?

 

[Gediminas]

How is the part where. The CMA consulted with the EU,FTC being ignored. These guys have already collaborated their findings. And are clearly aligning.

EU from day one sniped Cloud.

 

[Sircaw]

where is Peter?

Witness protection - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Gediminas]

Witness protection - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

more like

 

[AshHunter216]

New report from MLex:

- Microsoft President Brad Smith took aim at the CMA for blocking the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, saying the decision would affect investment in the UK and was based on a "faulty" understanding of the gaming market.

- He said that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should "look hard at the role of the CMA," and he said the European Commission's approach was far better.

- Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said: "This decision shows how important it is to support competition in the UK, and the UK is absolutely open for business."

- Investors and companies were "probably better off thinking harder about going to the European Union than to Britain," Smith said in an interview on BBC radio. "The impact of this decision is far broader than on Microsoft or this acquisition alone."

- Smith explained that the CMA had taken a narrow view of the gaming market, focused on a "potential concern" about how the "small" business might develop. "The process in Brussels worked far better than what we're now addressing in London."

- "This decision is probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain. It does more to shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we've ever confronted before," Smith said.

- Speaking on the same program, Cardell stressed the potential of the cloud gaming industry and that allowing Microsoft and Activision Blizzard to merge would "really harm the ability of other competing cloud platforms to compete effectively."

- Smith said the watchdog had gone silent on Microsoft two weeks ago, and then the prohibition decision arrived yesterday.

- "This is not the way regulators in Brussels work with companies. You have more of a conversation," he said, adding that Microsoft had made the same offer of concessions to the EU regulator as it did to its British counterpart.

- Cardell rejected the criticism of her office's procedures. "We conducted a lengthy in-depth investigation that took a full six months and Microsoft had ample opportunity to put their case to us."

- "We reached the decision on the basis of a huge amount of engagement. We looked at more than a million documents to reach our final decision," Cardell said.

- Smith said the "English Channel has never seemed wider" regarding the attractiveness of investments and the regulator process.

- Smith described Brussels as "a place where one can sit down and actually have a conversation with the regulators who are accountable to the elected leaders. And the difference we now confront in London, where we have regulators who are not only unelected but unaccountable, and now making decisions that just feel fundamentally unwise."

- According to Brad Smith, "I am optimistic that the European Commission will continue to go forward, as it has signaled in recent weeks and months, that it will regard the very promises that the CMA has rejected as far more appropriate."

Throwing a tantrum and admitting that the EU are in their back pocket. If I were Sony, I would invest heavily in the UK gaming market to help further prove MS wrong about the UK industry collapsing without their deal.

 

[FatKaz]

Throwing a tantrum a day admitting that the EU are in their back pocket. If I were Sony, I would invest heavily in the UK gaming market to help further prove MS wrong about the UK industry collapsing without their deal.

It's all bluster i wouldn't take it seriously.

Also sony have firesprite in the UK who they moved to a huge new office a while back. It's a growing team.

Sony’s Firesprite is moving to an office more than 20 times larger than its current one | VGC

The 10-year lease is the largest letting in Liverpool in three years…

www.videogameschronicle.com

Besides google and amazon will be frothing at the mouth if MS started moving investment out of the UK.

 

[FIREK2029]

 

[Darth Vader]

New report from MLex:

- Microsoft President Brad Smith took aim at the CMA for blocking the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, saying the decision would affect investment in the UK and was based on a "faulty" understanding of the gaming market.

- He said that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should "look hard at the role of the CMA," and he said the European Commission's approach was far better.

- Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said: "This decision shows how important it is to support competition in the UK, and the UK is absolutely open for business."

- Investors and companies were "probably better off thinking harder about going to the European Union than to Britain," Smith said in an interview on BBC radio. "The impact of this decision is far broader than on Microsoft or this acquisition alone."

- Smith explained that the CMA had taken a narrow view of the gaming market, focused on a "potential concern" about how the "small" business might develop. "The process in Brussels worked far better than what we're now addressing in London."

- "This decision is probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain. It does more to shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we've ever confronted before," Smith said.

- Speaking on the same program, Cardell stressed the potential of the cloud gaming industry and that allowing Microsoft and Activision Blizzard to merge would "really harm the ability of other competing cloud platforms to compete effectively."

- Smith said the watchdog had gone silent on Microsoft two weeks ago, and then the prohibition decision arrived yesterday.

- "This is not the way regulators in Brussels work with companies. You have more of a conversation," he said, adding that Microsoft had made the same offer of concessions to the EU regulator as it did to its British counterpart.

- Cardell rejected the criticism of her office's procedures. "We conducted a lengthy in-depth investigation that took a full six months and Microsoft had ample opportunity to put their case to us."

- "We reached the decision on the basis of a huge amount of engagement. We looked at more than a million documents to reach our final decision," Cardell said.

- Smith said the "English Channel has never seemed wider" regarding the attractiveness of investments and the regulator process.

- Smith described Brussels as "a place where one can sit down and actually have a conversation with the regulators who are accountable to the elected leaders. And the difference we now confront in London, where we have regulators who are not only unelected but unaccountable, and now making decisions that just feel fundamentally unwise."

- According to Brad Smith, "I am optimistic that the European Commission will continue to go forward, as it has signaled in recent weeks and months, that it will regard the very promises that the CMA has rejected as far more appropriate."

I'm not really sure they want to get on this political charade. It seems to my that if the EC blocks the deal, this will just be used against them in court.

 

[AshHunter216]

If the FTC decides to move forward with their lawsuit against the deal, MS will have to fight this battle on 2 fronts. At what point do some investors at these two companies decide that the merger is no longer worth the trouble?

 

[Loy310]

this is one of the biggest self own ever:

Clownberg clowned himself.

Yup, dude projected the outcome all along.

 

[Darth Vader]

If the FTC decides to move forward with their lawsuit against the deal, MS will have to fight this battle on 2 fronts. At what point do some investors at these two companies decide that the merger is no longer worth the trouble?

• 2023/07/18 - Final cut off for acquisition completion, which may or may not be extended (the paperwork is unclear here)

For them to continue AFTER this stage they need investor approval on both sides. I sincerely doubt Microsoft Investors will agree to extend the deal further and will be asking for Phil's head for wasting them 3B

 

[Impulse]

2023/07/18 - Final cut off for acquisition completion, which may or may not be extended (the paperwork is unclear here)

What will be happening here is that ATVI and MSFT boards would try to find a deal, and if they do, then both have to ask for and get the approval of their shareholders for said extension to happen.

Judging by Microsoft's stock rising after the CMA block came out, that might not be an easy task as it seems that investors think the deal is overpriced.

 

[Loy310]

I am so happy to see it, Jimbo must have done the best job ever in Sony's history, he'll be swimming in bitches, fast cars & billions of checks after this.

Been said Jimbo is the goat, the goat!
No one is gonna follow this guys success.

Took over PS by force.
Gutted the useless leadership in the states.
Doubled down on Cerny.
Launched a record breaking and worthy PS4 successor in the middle of a fucking pandemic.
Bought Bungie.
Tripled wws budgets.
Possibly killed XB hardware division.
And more to come, dude is a legend, will be very hard to follow once he bows out.

Lots of folks doubted the guy in the 2010’s.
Jim said i got something to prove.

 

[Loy310]

New report from MLex:

- Microsoft President Brad Smith took aim at the CMA for blocking the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, saying the decision would affect investment in the UK and was based on a "faulty" understanding of the gaming market.

- He said that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should "look hard at the role of the CMA," and he said the European Commission's approach was far better.

- Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said: "This decision shows how important it is to support competition in the UK, and the UK is absolutely open for business."

- Investors and companies were "probably better off thinking harder about going to the European Union than to Britain," Smith said in an interview on BBC radio. "The impact of this decision is far broader than on Microsoft or this acquisition alone."

- Smith explained that the CMA had taken a narrow view of the gaming market, focused on a "potential concern" about how the "small" business might develop. "The process in Brussels worked far better than what we're now addressing in London."

- "This decision is probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain. It does more to shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we've ever confronted before," Smith said.

- Speaking on the same program, Cardell stressed the potential of the cloud gaming industry and that allowing Microsoft and Activision Blizzard to merge would "really harm the ability of other competing cloud platforms to compete effectively."

- Smith said the watchdog had gone silent on Microsoft two weeks ago, and then the prohibition decision arrived yesterday.

- "This is not the way regulators in Brussels work with companies. You have more of a conversation," he said, adding that Microsoft had made the same offer of concessions to the EU regulator as it did to its British counterpart.

- Cardell rejected the criticism of her office's procedures. "We conducted a lengthy in-depth investigation that took a full six months and Microsoft had ample opportunity to put their case to us."

- "We reached the decision on the basis of a huge amount of engagement. We looked at more than a million documents to reach our final decision," Cardell said.

- Smith said the "English Channel has never seemed wider" regarding the attractiveness of investments and the regulator process.

- Smith described Brussels as "a place where one can sit down and actually have a conversation with the regulators who are accountable to the elected leaders. And the difference we now confront in London, where we have regulators who are not only unelected but unaccountable, and now making decisions that just feel fundamentally unwise."

- According to Brad Smith, "I am optimistic that the European Commission will continue to go forward, as it has signaled in recent weeks and months, that it will regard the very promises that the CMA has rejected as far more appropriate."

The cma ghosted them for 2 weeks?
I honestly believe the cma took the console concerns being dropped personal, them having to drop it made them look flawed and stupid, and this straight block was the clap back.

The Brits walked microsoft like a terminally sick dog to the park, gave them a treat, made them chase a tree branch, then took them to the vet and put them the fuck down

 

[Darth Vader]

What will be happening here is that ATVI and MSFT boards would try to find a deal, and if they do, then both have to ask for and get the approval of their shareholders for said extension to happen.

Judging by Microsoft's stock rising after the CMA block came out, that might not be an easy task as it seems that investors think the deal is overpriced.

Couldn't agree more. For now they must, from a business standpoint, fight tooth and nail against this decision - That's their fiduciary duty. However, come July, in the days before the timeline ending, we will know if they decided to drop the deal or if it moves forward.

I also still think the EC will either block based on cloud concerns or apply substantial remedies, and Smith will eat his words.

 

[Darth Vader]

I actually want comment on that summary by MLEX.

Edit - I honestly think Americans think Europe is some sort of third world dystopia where people are still living in caves and behaving like primitive humans. Like, all problems Brad seems to have about this deal can be summarised to "We couldn't bribe our way into a desired outcome, therefore..."

Lad, no matter how much corruption there is in the EU or UK (there is), this is not fucking Texas or Alabama, and there's actual separation of powers (bar a couple of countries with more... quirky policies, in the case of the EU)

- Microsoft President Brad Smith took aim at the CMA for blocking the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, saying the decision would affect investment in the UK and was based on a "faulty" understanding of the gaming market.

This is a thinly veiled threat and looks really bad for a President of such a big company.

- He said that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should "look hard at the role of the CMA," and he said the European Commission's approach was far better.

Contrary to the US, the UK actually has separation of powers, and Prime Ministers can't just unilaterally look at the role of a regulator to try and influence their decision. Not that it can't happen, but that's not how it works. The UK is not the US, Brad.

- Investors and companies were "probably better off thinking harder about going to the European Union than to Britain," Smith said in an interview on BBC radio. "The impact of this decision is far broader than on Microsoft or this acquisition alone."

This will be a spectacular backfire if the EC decides to block the deal. Not that I disagree that the EU is a better investment market post-brexit, but it's not for these reasons.

- Smith explained that the CMA had taken a narrow view of the gaming market, focused on a "potential concern" about how the "small" business might develop. "The process in Brussels worked far better than what we're now addressing in London."

Bullshit. The process in Brussels and the UK are fairly well aligned since, until quite recently, the UK was part of the EU.

- "This decision is probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain. It does more to shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we've ever confronted before," Smith said.

Another thinly veiled threat.

- Smith said the watchdog had gone silent on Microsoft two weeks ago, and then the prohibition decision arrived yesterday.

Because that's how the process goes. After submission dates, they will take their time to make a decision without the input of any interested parties. It seems to me like they are pissed they couldn't bribe... sorry, lobby their way into a resolution.

- "This is not the way regulators in Brussels work with companies. You have more of a conversation," he said, adding that Microsoft had made the same offer of concessions to the EU regulator as it did to its British counterpart.

And the UK regulator regulates their market, not the EU market. The same is true the other way around as well.

- Smith said the "English Channel has never seemed wider" regarding the attractiveness of investments and the regulator process.

More threats.

- Smith described Brussels as "a place where one can sit down and actually have a conversation with the regulators who are accountable to the elected leaders. And the difference we now confront in London, where we have regulators who are not only unelected but unaccountable, and now making decisions that just feel fundamentally unwise."

Neither the UK or the EU have direct election of their regulators. Both of them have their elected government members elect regulators. The process is the same in both markets. And in most first world countries, regulators are not accountable to the government. Their job is not to make politically based decisions, but rather market based ones. This is not the US, brad.

- According to Brad Smith, "I am optimistic that the European Commission will continue to go forward, as it has signaled in recent weeks and months, that it will regard the very promises that the CMA has rejected as far more appropriate."

Another comment that I want to see backfire. And I think it will.