Restart game? EU approves Microsoft’s $69bn Activision bid weeks after UK rejected deal May 15, 2023 Microsoft’s $68.7bn bid for Activision Blizzard has been approved by EU regulators today, just weeks after the UK’s competition agency blocked the deal. The EU decided to approve the deal after remedies were put in place to address competition concerns, with the European Commission saying Microsoft offered 10-year free licensing deals to customers. “These licenses [...]
Lord Pannick: Activision hires top KC for £55bn Microsoft takeover legal challenge May 10, 2023 Computer Games company Activision Blizzard has hired Boris Johnson’s former lawyer to represent it in a £55 billion legal battle with the competition watchdog. Lord David Pannick KC, who represented the ex-prime minister through the partygate hearings, will be representing the games giant at a Competition Appeal Tribunal, the Financial Times reported. It comes after [...]
LinkedIn latest tech giant to axe jobs blaming ‘drop in demand’ May 9, 2023 LinkedIn is culling over 700 jobs and closing its local app in China, blaming a slump in consumer demand and turbulent market conditions. In an email to LinkedIn employees, Ryan Roslanksy, LinkedIn chief executive. said the changes would be made in order to shake up the business, which is being hit by slower revenue growth. [...]
Activision deal: Survey says CMA wrong to block Microsoft tie-up May 8, 2023 A quarter of the public thought the UK competition watchdog was wrong to block Microsoft’s $70b deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, a new poll has found. One in four of the public were opposed to the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) decision to block the deal, while a further 16 percent thought it was [...]
Analysis: Big tech beats forecasts – but they’re not out of the woods yet April 28, 2023 Meta, Microsoft, and Google’s parent, Alphabet, Amazon all showed signs of resilience this week after a bruising period for the tech sector. After many US tech firms laid off thousands of staff in response to low growth and inflationary pressures, each of these leading tech giants reported quarterly revenues and profits that beat analyst estimates, [...]
Microsoft slams UK move blocking Activision takeover as ‘bad day for Britain’ April 27, 2023 Microsoft’s vice chair and president has slammed the UK competition watchdog’s decision to block the software company’s 68.7bn dollar (£55bn) takeover of gaming firm Activision Blizzard, calling it a “bad day for Britain”. Brad Smith said the UK regulatory environment compared unfavourably with the EU and warned the “English Channel has never seemed wider”. He [...]
Game Over? CMA block of Activision deal to set the tone for other regulators April 26, 2023 The UK competition regulator today blocked Microsoft’s $70bn bid for the video game publisher, Activision Blizzard, citing concerns over competition in a fledgling cloud market. The move by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to scupper the deal — Microsoft’s largest acquisition — comes as a blow to the tech giant, which has already announced [...]
Microsoft’s £55bn acquisition of Call of Duty games creator blocked by UK’s competition authority April 26, 2023 Microsoft has had its $68.7bn (£55bn) acquisition of Activision Blizzard blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the regulator confirmed on Wednesday. The CMA blocked the deal over concerns it would lessen competition in the UK cloud gaming market by giving Microsoft it control over where Activision games are available. “Cloud gaming needs a [...]
Microsoft: Shares jump eight per cent as AI helps software giant’s sales beat expectations April 26, 2023 Microsoft beat Wall Street’s estimates for quarterly revenue and profit on Tuesday, driven by growth in its cloud computing and Office productivity software businesses, and the company said artificial intelligence products were stimulating sales. The company forecast revenue in its main segments for the current quarter would match or top Wall Street targets. Shares gained 8.3 per cent in after-market [...]
FTSE 100 close: London ends down ahead of Google and Microsoft results as Primark owner slumps April 25, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 was dragged lower today as investors fretted over the state of a batch of big tech results on Wall Street rolling in over the coming days. The capital’s premier index shed 0.27 per cent to drop to 7,891.13 points, while the domestically-focus mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the [...]