Now how do we get rid of Kotick? -_-

He's done either way. This deal is the reason he's currently still there, securing the share buyout price of the major share holders. Activision stock is already going down, when the deal falls through it will go down further. The share holders won't be pleased and have no reason to support Bobby any longer. Plus all the other ActiBlizz dirty laundry will be getting the attention again. The demand for new leadership won't disappear with the deal off the table.

The only difference is how much money Bobby will take with him on his way out.

But there's no gurantee he'll leave. -_-

Even if he somehow manages to convince his cronies he can make them more money (another deal?), the spotlight will be back on the working conditions. Investigations into the company will get more coverage again, and will be more intense without the carrot of MS cleaning up the mess. Bobby won't be able to hide behind the merger any longer.

It's just going to take longer, yet again :/

Ikr? Megacoporations concerned for the regular people well-being. How about you close that Puerto Rico subsidiary through which you avoided paying taxes on 40 billion dollars and stop lobbying to defund the IRS and answer to them the way regular people do. Just pay your taxes like we do and then pretend to show concern. 

New report from MLex:

- Microsoft President Brad Smith took aim at the CMA for blocking the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, saying the decision would affect investment in the UK and was based on a "faulty" understanding of the gaming market.

- He said that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should "look hard at the role of the CMA," and he said the European Commission's approach was far better.

- Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said: "This decision shows how important it is to support competition in the UK, and the UK is absolutely open for business."

- Investors and companies were "probably better off thinking harder about going to the European Union than to Britain," Smith said in an interview on BBC radio. "The impact of this decision is far broader than on Microsoft or this acquisition alone."

- Smith explained that the CMA had taken a narrow view of the gaming market, focused on a "potential concern" about how the "small" business might develop. "The process in Brussels worked far better than what we're now addressing in London."

- "This decision is probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain. It does more to shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we've ever confronted before," Smith said.

- Speaking on the same program, Cardell stressed the potential of the cloud gaming industry and that allowing Microsoft and Activision Blizzard to merge would "really harm the ability of other competing cloud platforms to compete effectively."

- Smith said the watchdog had gone silent on Microsoft two weeks ago, and then the prohibition decision arrived yesterday.

- "This is not the way regulators in Brussels work with companies. You have more of a conversation," he said, adding that Microsoft had made the same offer of concessions to the EU regulator as it did to its British counterpart.

- Cardell rejected the criticism of her office's procedures. "We conducted a lengthy in-depth investigation that took a full six months and Microsoft had ample opportunity to put their case to us."

- "We reached the decision on the basis of a huge amount of engagement. We looked at more than a million documents to reach our final decision," Cardell said.

- Smith said the "English Channel has never seemed wider" regarding the attractiveness of investments and the regulator process.

- Smith described Brussels as "a place where one can sit down and actually have a conversation with the regulators who are accountable to the elected leaders. And the difference we now confront in London, where we have regulators who are not only unelected but unaccountable, and now making decisions that just feel fundamentally unwise."

- According to Brad Smith, "I am optimistic that the European Commission will continue to go forward, as it has signaled in recent weeks and months, that it will regard the very promises that the CMA has rejected as far more appropriate."

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Boy is angry daddy's money isn't getting him a toy...... Shut up and stop avoiding taxes

Wait till you realize who actually gets ABK in the end because this deal fell flat.

It'll be two of your most favorite companies - Tencent or the Saudis entertainment arm.

If the CMA & others were truly serious, they would have also blocked any Microsoft service that is using OpenAI's software too, since MS basically illegally bought out a non-profit company made with tax-exempt investor money.

Smith should just shut up and take the L because they're still being treated with velvet gloves, and everything he says one can bet the EC is paying close attention.

The deal structure with openAI is unique and I don't know if regulators are serious to begin with because it didn't seem to attract enough attention, I also still expect MS/ABK to pass, no comment from the congress puppets yet, however, The Telegraph is now labelling the CMA as "anti-growth", no surprise. 

For those who want to read more on openAI/MS deal, this is a simple read: https://tammystakes.substack.com/p/microsofts-quasi-acquisition-of-openai

I'm not sure if this will stop industry consolidation, since the Bethesda acquisition opened that door, but it will slow it down considerably. The absolute best case is that it stops it completely.