Microsoft closes in on Activision deal after Britain signals approval

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Microsoft came one step closer Friday to completing its $69 billion purchase of the video game-maker Activision Blizzard, in a deal that has become an example of how a company can successfully ride out stricter regulatory scrutiny of the power of tech giants.

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority, the last remaining agency that must sign off before Microsoft can complete the acquisition, said the companies took action that «substantially addresses» remaining antitrust concerns. The regulator initially tried to block the deal, saying it would undercut competition, but reversed course after Microsoft agreed not to purchase a part of Activision's business associated with so-called cloud gaming, a small but promising new area for the industry.

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First announced in January 2022, the acquisition has been heavily scrutinized by antitrust officials around the world and held up as a test of whether regulators would approve a tech megamerger amid concerns about the industry's power. The deal would upend the video game market, combining Microsoft's Xbox business with Activision, a publisher of such hit video games as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.

But Microsoft, with experience in thorny antitrust disputes going back to the 1990s, was able to successfully navigate its way through stiff regulatory resistance on both sides of the Atlantic. In July, the company won a court battle against the Federal