Microsoft and UK get two more months to reach agreement in Activision deal

Microsoft and UK get two more months to reach agreement in Activision deal

Time Stamp: July 17, 2023 7:39 PM

Microsoft and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority have been formally granted two months to reach a new agreement following a joint request to the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

The CMA officially blocked Microsoft’s proposed $69BN acquisition of Activision Blizzard back in April, highlighting concerns relating to the fledgling cloud gaming sector and arguing the deal would risk “stifling competition in this growing market”.

However, following the US Federal Trade Commission’s failure to secure a temporarily halt on the deal in court last week, the CMA indicated it would be open to a “new merger investigation” if Microsoft was willing to restructure its Activision Blizzard deal.

Newscast: Is Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition now a done deal?

In order to facilitate those renewed discussions, Microsoft, Activision, and the CMA (which has now extended the deadline for its final decision from July 18th to August 29th) all agreed a two-month “stay of litigation” would be in the public interest, and made a joint submission to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to that effect. The CAT was originally due to hear Microsoft’s appeal against the CMA’s decision on 28th July.

Now though, as reported by Reuters, the CAT’s Judge Marcus Smith has provisionally agreed to adjourn next week’s hearing as long as the CMA is able explain to why it considers there to have been a material change in circumstances that justify its adjournment application, and as long as it lays out any new consultation process so “everybody is clear as to how it will work”.

No details of Microsoft’s revised proposal to the CMA have been officially revealed as yet, but Bloomberg recently reported the company is considering selling off the cloud-based market rights for games in the UK to appease the regulator.

In related news, Bloomberg now reports Microsoft and Activision are likely to extend their self-imposed completion deadline past the originally agreed date of 18th July. As per the companies’ original terms, Microsoft would have needed to pay Activision Blizzard a $3BN breakup fee if the date passed without the acquisition being finalised.

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