Microsoft, CMA ask court for pause to consider Activision tweaks
BNN Bloomberg
Microsoft Corp. and British regulators have held 'productive' talks on potential remedies the tech giant can offer as it seeks to clear the final hurdle to its US$69 billion Activision Blizzard Inc. deal, a lawyer for the U.K. watchdog said.
Microsoft, Activision and the Competition and Markets Authority are seeking to persuade the tribunal to pause a court challenge after the regulator opened the door to new negotiations. The offer for talks came after a legal breakthrough for Microsoft in the US that pushed the companies ever closer to clinching the deal.
Activision rose 2.9 per cent to $92.64 at 10:53 a.m. in New York, just under the $95 a share Microsoft offered when the deal was announced in 2022. Microsoft was little changed.
The CMA is the only regulator that’s standing in the way of Microsoft getting the deal over the finish line after a week of drama that saw the Federal Trade Commission lose a U.S. court battle and a truce with rival Sony Group Corp. to license the Call of Duty franchise for 10 years. The tribunal now needs to agree to halt its proceedings which will allow talks between the parties to formally begin.
