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shikamaru317 on 10 May 2023
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Ryuu96 said:
Machiavellian said:

If the EU approve, you still believe the deal is dead.  There are remedies that MS can pursue in the UK to get it done still.

Yes.

CMA wants the deal blocked. CAT doesn't look into the decision itself, they only look into whether the CMA acted irrationally, broke the law or broke procedure. In addition, no new evidence can be submitted to CAT, they only look into what was already submitted. Microsoft can't offer CMA anything new unless CAT throws it back to CMA.

Irrationality is their only course and it's an extremely high bar. Even IF (and it's a massive if), CAT throws it back to CMA, they'll find another reason to block the deal. The only extreme long-shot they have is ring-fencing but CMA have already stated they are acting as a global regulator so they'll want anything Microsoft does structurally to apply worldwide.

Deal is dead.

Seems to me they can just cancel their Xbox Cloud Gaming operations in the UK. Surely that's far better in the long run than losing $2b to ABK and losing out on the whole acquisition over a nonsense, debunked claim by the CMA.