Microsoft spent as much on Activision Blizzard as it did on its 5 most expensive takeovers

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Difficult to imagine the amount mobilized by Microsoft to pay Activision Blizzard. Another way to apprehend this 70 billion dollars is to note that it took a similar amount for Microsoft to pay itself… the following 5 companies that cost it the most.

No one saw the blow coming. On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced plans to acquire Activision studio Blizzard for approximately $70 billion. Unheard of in the video game industry, by far. It is also one of the most substantial acquisitions in the cultural sector, only surpassed by three previous operations, with Time Warner and 20th Century Fox.

It may be difficult to imagine the magnitude of the sum mobilized by Microsoft to pay for the catalog of Activision, Blizzard and King, which has many successful games. On this scale, the comparisons that can be imagined to represent that $70 billion are likely to be hit or miss.

However, there is one observation: Microsoft is paying for Activision Blizzard an amount similar to that which it mobilized to pay for the five companies that cost it the most. Notwithstanding inflation, Microsoft has indeed deployed a cumulative $70 billion to pay for LinkedIn, GitHub, Skype, Nuance and ZeniMax Media.

Tens of billions of dollars to take control of very lucrative licenses. // Source: Editing by Nino Barbey for Numerama

Microsoft’s 10 Biggest Acquisitions

  • Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion (2022);
  • LinkedIn for $26.2 billion (2016);
  • Nuance Communications for $19.7 billion (2021);
  • Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion (2011);
  • ZeniMax Media for $8.1 billion (2020);
  • GitHub for $7.5 billion (2018);
  • Nokia for $7.2 billion (2013);
  • aQuantive for $6.3 billion (2007);
  • Mojang for $2.5 billion (2014);
  • Visio Corporation for $1.4 billion (2000).

This equivalence (LinkedIn, Nuance, Skype, ZenimMax and GitHub required as many resources as Activision Blizzard alone) obviously has its weaknesses. The value of the dollar fluctuates over time, at the rate of inflation and deflation, which limits the exercise. However, it gives perspective to the operation and an illuminating order of magnitude.

It is also remarkable to see the financial effort made by Microsoft for video games. Opposite, LinkedIn is a professional social network, Nuance sells voice recognition and text transcription tools, Skype is a video conferencing and instant messaging service, ZeniMax is another video game studio and GitHub is a software development platform. .

For further

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War // Source: Activision



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