Microsoft acquires Activision-Blizzard

[FreeKnight]

Thread update, UK doesn't sound too happy about the tie up.

Microsoft's $69 bln Activision deal could harm competition, UK says

Britain's antitrust regulator said Microsoft Corp's $69 billion of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard could harm competition in gaming consoles, subscription services and cloud gaming, and it needs to be investigated in depth.

www.reuters.com

I don't think the UK has too much sway on this merger. Both companies are US companies and the merger doesn't have to be approved by British law.

Maybe the UK could try and prevent the sale of MS-AB products via a parliamentary motion after the fact, citing anti-trust legislation but I doubt they would and MS probably doesn't really care what the UK government thinks about this.

They'll probably send someone to appear before commons as a gesture, but with no real intent to give a crap what the UK parliament thinks.

 

[Marzipan]

in other interesting news, Amazon is in talks to buy EA.

 

[sswilson]

in other interesting news, Amazon is in talks to buy EA.

Yeah, I saw the rumours that were floating around on 3rd tier media outlets a few days ago, but the most recent ones are that sources within Amazon have categorically denied them.

 

[Marzipan]

Yeah, I saw the rumours that were floating around on 3rd tier media outlets a few days ago, but the most recent ones are that sources within Amazon have categorically denied them.

of course, that standard practice no matter what the rumor is, especially when true!

 

[proxy]

I suppose it could be worse. Could have been Tencent.