Deadline for Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard extended to Oct 18
File photo.
The deadline for Microsoft's acquisition of video gaming giant Activision on Wednesday (July 19) was extended by three months to October 18 as the two companies work to secure a United Kingdom (UK) approval for the biggest gaming deal (worth $69 billion) in history. According to a report by the news agency Associated Press, Microsoft's President Brad Smith said the company believed that pushing back the deadline (to October 18) would provide enough time to work through the remaining regulatory issues.
“We are confident about our prospects for getting this deal across the finish line,” Smith said. Microsoft and Activision had originally agreed to close the deal by Tuesday (July 18) but US regulatory efforts to block the takeover and the UK's push to restructure it have delayed the close, a report by the news agency Reuters said.
Also read |Explained: What is $69bn Microsoft-Activision deal that could transform gaming industry forever?
Now, the amended agreement also increases the deal termination fee to $3.5 billion from $3 billion if it does not close by August 29, and to $4.5 billion after September 15, the Reuters report added.
Deal will quickly close: Activision
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A spokesperson from Activision said on Wednesday that the board of directors of Blizzard and Microsoft authorised the companies not to terminate the deal until after October 18. "We’re confident in our next steps and that our deal will quickly close," the spokesperson added.
Last week, Microsoft was working to resolve the longstanding legal challenges from anti-trust enforcers in the US and UK who argued the merger would harm competition.
The concerns over the deal
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has pushed to temporarily stop the $69 billion deal, said that the deal could let Microsoft degrade Activision's game quality or player experience on rival consoles such as Nintendo and Sony's PlayStation. On the other hand, Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) questioned whether the deal could hinder competition in the cloud gaming industry.
Earlier, the CMA decided to block the deal but reversed course last week and extended its deadline for a final ruling to August 29 after a US court ruling left the UK alone in opposition.
(With inputs from agencies)
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