Microsoft seems to have marked its calendar with a golden cross to finally formalize with great fanfare its acquisition of Activision Blizzard King.
In any case, this is what our colleagues at The Verge, who get the information from a source very close to the project. This announcement would mark the end of 20 long months for Microsoft and a series full of twists and turns. However, this still depends on the final verdict of the British CMA, which should a priori be the last authority to give its approval for this historic operation worth 69 billion dollars.
Final episode of the soap opera next week?
It’s been 20 months since Microsoft proudly announced that it had reached an agreement with Activision Blizzard King to buy the group for the truly colossal sum of $69 billion. The jubilation was short-lived, however, as many competition authorities sounded the alarm and tried to block the operation.
After going out of its way to convince its world, Microsoft would feel confident enough to officially announce to the world that Activision Blizzard King is now part of the great Xbox family. The Redmond firm would in any case have already marked Friday October 13 on its calendar for this.
Microsoft pressed for time?
Remember that, initially, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King agreed for the deal to be concluded last July. The studio has agreed to extend this deadline to October 18. However, one last real obstacle remains: the CMA. This had blocked the takeover in order to protect the cloud gaming market in the United Kingdom. As a final remedy, the rights in this area were ceded to Ubisoft.
The British authority has therefore issued a favorable preliminary opinion and should therefore validate the repurchase shortly. Microsoft would thus have, in this gradually shrinking window of time, free rein to finally announce its hard-fought victory. This would also allow it to pull the rug out from under the American FTC.
The company did not take its legal defeat against the Redmond firm well and appealed the verdict to the Federal Court of Appeals. It must give its opinion in December. At the same time, the American authority intends to reopen its administrative investigation into the takeover. If Microsoft fully formalizes its acquisition before then, the FTC will find itself in a situation of checkmate, so to speak. See you next week to watch the final episode of this historical soap opera… barring a final twist in the plot.
Source : The Verge
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