Microsoft / Activision Deal Approval Watch |OT| (MS/ABK close)

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


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You guys do realize that a liberal court going against decades of precedence and case law in vertical mergers is just asking for an appeal to the supreme court? If the case goes to the supreme court say goodbye to antirust.

In my prediction the appellate court won't even grant the emergency stay.

Yeah, agreed. And if we're talking about the "supposed liberalism" of the 9th Circuit, then you could expect the Supreme Court to essentially overturn it, which it has done repeatedly.

That is...unless John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh want to show how "hip" and "with it" they are. :messenger_sunglasses::messenger_horns:

-----------------

"Hey kids, I know you're totally stressin' about those student loans you can't pay back--and that we didn't help you with, but check out these fresh beats. HIT 'EM UP, BRETT!

* rap beat begins*

You might just think we're old, white and whack,
But when it comes to Xbox fuckin' you
Well, WE fuckin' back
Blizzard-Activision ain't got no sense
Phil and his hoes are straight up dense
You green rat bitches want to rule the nation
But you sorry mothafuckas will always lose to PlayStation


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This original post was supposed to be edited into the above post. Now it's replaced by an emoji. Sorry for double post.
 
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The 9th circuit being more "conservative" now is funny. We get to see if they hate regulation or big tech more at the moment. What a time to be a gamer.
 
Of course they appealed. It won't make a damn bit of difference, though. There was a tweet put out by ol' Jez Corden saying something like

"A lot of drama over a lot of multiplatform games, innit?"

I'm gonna petition that to go the Poorly Aged Tweets page the instant Microsoft does what *all of us expect them to do* and just make it all exclusive as soon as the ink is dry.
 
So Corley was working on ms time?
Considering the FTC wanted the case in San Francisco to begin with, I think it's more a case of "be careful what you wish for." With that said, I'd wager in this instance Corely was moving to prevent the deal from expiring to prevent precedent: the FTC could use the court to force any deal the FTC didn't like past its expiry, effectively killing it. Any new offer would re-start the process, which the FTC could kill again, disregarding whether or not there was any grounds for them to object to the deal in the first place. The FTCs job is to enforce and apply the relevant regulations and laws, not force adherence to the ideological position of its Chair.
 
Can we keep talking about Lina Khan? She's fucked. No, really.


House Oversight Committee's Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is leading a panel that's slated to question Khan Thursday on a slew of issues including alleged mismanagement of staff, an overly burdensome merger review process, and even alleged harassment of Twitter following its acquisition by Elon Musk, according to a 23-page Judiciary Committee memo obtained by The Post.

"Chair Khan is wasting agency resources in ill-advised and unlawful policy and enforcement efforts; Chair Khan is using her power to advance a woke agenda across corporate America," according to the memo.

DeepEnigma DeepEnigma GHG GHG I know you two are cracking up about "wastin muh taxpayer dollars," but it's ironically that argument which is going to destroy her.

I don't think anyone on the left will defend her in a meaningful way. She's toast.
 
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FTC is like a person with two broken arms, still trying to put up a fight. You had 3 extra Days to work during the PI and still lost.
 
Oh wow! That changes the entire calculus for the TRILLION DOLLAR COMPANY, M$FT.
You are arguing about $3k a year for a $2.5 trillion dollar corporation. If you want to delude yourself and believe layoffs have to do with performance then that's just you. Layoffs are about satisfying stockholders.
Businesses arent a charity. Just because some are big and profitable doesn't mean it should get treated like a blood bank giving away money for nothing.

As for market cap that means nothing in many cases. You got some high valued bio-pharma companies with $0 sales and tons of net loss every year. That doesn't mean they have unlimited cash to give out.

Never the less, unless a company is going broke or winding down operations, the vast majority of people keep their job and get pay raises every year already. It's not hard to get a small pay boost if you're worth it. One of the analysts who sits near me asked her boss for a raise and got $15,000. And my company is way smaller than MS but also traded publicly. She got it because she does a pretty good job (at least from what I see). She went from around $80k to $95k. Decent boost for doing the same job.

All you got to do is prove youre worth some extra cash and you'll get it. If someone working at a huge company gets stonewalled over $3000 that person is shit. lol
 
Can we keep talking about Lina Khan? She's fucked. No, really.




DeepEnigma DeepEnigma GHG GHG I know you two are cracking up about "wastin muh taxpayer dollars," but it's ironically that argument which is going to destroy her.

I don't think anyone on the left will defend her in a meaningful way. She's toast.
You act as if I'm a fan of her or anyone in the hypocritical 24/7 government. The "taxdollars" thing is hollow posturing.
 
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Considering the FTC wanted the case in San Francisco to begin with, I think it's more a case of "be careful what you wish for." With that said, I'd wager in this instance Corely was moving to prevent the deal from expiring to prevent precedent: the FTC could use the court to force any deal the FTC didn't like past its expiry, effectively killing it. Any new offer would re-start the process, which the FTC could kill again, disregarding whether or not there was any grounds for them to object to the deal in the first place. The FTCs job is to enforce and apply the relevant regulations and laws, not force adherence to the ideological position of its Chair.

Don't you think that's a distorted view maybe? Why is it that you accept MS's framing of the context, they don't get to control the clock. It can't be like that. Both EC, CMA and FTC have moved against the merger. It's a self imposed timeline.
 
I'm a US Tax payer, I don't give a shit if the a little portion of my tax money is funding FTCs trials, because I know MOST of it is funding shit I likely wouldn't agree with either.

I just want my tax returns at the end of the tax season.
 
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You act as if I'm a fan of her or anyone in the hypocritical 24/7 government. The "taxdollars" thing is hollow posturing.

My bad...I don't think you're fan; I just saw your comments and there's definitely some truth to the hollow posturing, but when you keep racking up the losses (her, not you) sometimes that shit sticks.
 
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Can we keep talking about Lina Khan? She's fucked. No, really.




DeepEnigma DeepEnigma GHG GHG I know you two are cracking up about "wastin muh taxpayer dollars," but it's ironically that argument which is going to destroy her.

I don't think anyone on the left will defend her in a meaningful way. She's toast.

#Wokegenda Forever
 
FTC is like a person with two broken arms, still trying to put up a fight. You had 3 extra Days to work during the PI and still lost.
I find it hilarious that any governing body suing and debating corporations would even lose any battle.

You'd think if there's one set of lawyers and regulators who know more about laws and anti-competitive issues it would be places like FTC. Should be a slam dunk. They should know more and have more experience doing this for decades. If they are getting beat in their own backyard by corporate lawyers that's got to be embarrassing.

That's someone deciding on who to fix their car. They can go to a shop full of experienced mechanics. Or go to Jim Bob who works on his car on his driveway in his spare time. There should be no way the hobbyist should know more about fixing cars. But here we are.
 
Can we keep talking about Lina Khan? She's fucked. No, really.




DeepEnigma DeepEnigma GHG GHG I know you two are cracking up about "wastin muh taxpayer dollars," but it's ironically that argument which is going to destroy her.

I don't think anyone on the left will defend her in a meaningful way. She's toast.
She was literally 33 years old with no experience in the relevant sphere of law when appointed by Biden. She was so blatantly a political appointee it was hilarious and her incompetence and bumbling since then are only further proof that Biden is stupid and this appointment was a joke.

I might add right now nobody is getting appointed to anything because everybody is pushing back against Biden these days. Nobody likes Biden or his shit.

 
My bad...I don't think you're fan; I just saw your comments and there's definitely some truth to the hollow posturing, but when you keep racking up the losses (her, not you) sometimes that shit sticks.
I'm not a fan of her or the ideology she represents, but, I believe they want those loses. They're building a case to show how inept and toothless the FTC actually is to massive unfetteted corporations.
 
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Man, give the poor guy a chance, maybe he's a real intellectual :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
She was literally 33 years old with no experience in the relevant sphere of law when appointed by Biden. She was so blatantly a political appointee it was hilarious and her incompetence and bumbling since then are only further proof that Biden is stupid and this appointment was a joke.

I might add right now nobody is getting appointed to anything because everybody is pushing back against Biden these days. Nobody likes Biden or his shit.


She's definitely got the smarts but the functional experience is just entirely absent. Washington, DC is a total country club cesspool and you throw her into it like a babe in the woods. Honestly, I'm starting to feel some empathy for her because she is going to get roasted and there will be nobody to hold her hand.

I'm not a fan of her or the ideology she represents, but, I believe they want those loses. They're building a case to show how inept and toothless the FTC actually is to massive unfetteted corporations.

Well, if she's playing the long game, she does run the risk of outsmarting herself. These kind of wins just embolden more M&A activity and that's rarely (never?) a good thing for consumers.
 
The only thing that keeps me safe from this coco news.

fRZARjP.png


GHG GHG I am slowly regaining self steam back now. These past 2 weeks has been a good start for me. Hopefully it continues that way.

Now back to my real world.

Banjo64 Banjo64 and adamsapple adamsapple :p:p good luck with this madness.


Epic Game Launcher, how fucking dare you show your face here ...


but jokes aside, hope you're doing well Fey Your absence is noted greatly.
 
Join the bet, if the cma blocks you get to eat the demented british delicacy called the wigan slappy and pretend it's the best thing you've eaten in your life.
I don't know...our friends across the channel don't do too bad on the demented food front...


Let's not forget the delicacy that is sheep's bollocks too.

And people say British food is rotten? ;)

(Normal thread topic service may now resume)
 
I find it hilarious that any governing body suing and debating corporations would even lose any battle.

You'd think if there's one set of lawyers and regulators who know more about laws and anti-competitive issues it would be places like FTC. Should be a slam dunk. They should know more and have more experience doing this for decades. If they are getting beat in their own backyard by corporate lawyers that's got to be embarrassing.

That's someone deciding on who to fix their car. They can go to a shop full of experienced mechanics. Or go to Jim Bob who works on his car on his driveway in his spare time. There should be no way the hobbyist should know more about fixing cars. But here we are.

A truly incredible post for all of the wrong reasons.
 
Well, if she's playing the long game, she does run the risk of outsmarting herself. These kind of wins just embolden more M&A activity and that's rarely (never?) a good thing for consumers.
And rolling over and allowing it won't embolden? Writing is already on the wall when MS didn't stop at Bethesda and said they would not stop after Activision. The industry (and others) are already taking note.
 
And rolling over and allowing it won't embolden? Writing is already on the wall when MS didn't stop at Bethesda and said they would not stop after Activision. The industry (and others) are already taking note.

I totally get where you're coming from, but I read stuff like this:


The FTC maintains that losing the case wasn't all bad: Davila's decision recognized the agency's theory that mergers that don't immediately hurt competition but have the potential to do so in the future should be blocked.

"The judge sided with the FTC on basically every question of law and laid out a very clear opinion that said the way we were interpreting the law was correct," Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a Democratic member of the commission, said of Davila's decision at a conference in Arlington, Virginia, on Friday.

And it's like they're literally counting their moral victories. You only have so much time in office to do something and this is how you're going to spend your time in hopes that someone else in the future will go, "hey, wait a second."

This is precisely one of the reasons I cannot stand the modern Democratic party. Acting powerless.

All I'm saying is choose your battles wisely and give those battles your all. She's literally challenging everything and losing and maybe...maybe that deters some companies from merging because of some embarrassing emails they don't want disclosed? That's a heckuva bet, and I think they'll call her bluff.
 
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I totally get where you're coming from, but I read stuff like this:




And it's like they're literally counting their moral victories. You only have so much time in office to do something and this is how you're going to spend your time in hopes that someone else in the future will go, "hey, wait a second."

This is precisely one of the reasons I cannot stand the modern Democratic party. Acting powerless.

All I'm saying is choose your battles wisely and give those battles your all. She's literally challenging everything and losing and maybe...maybe that deters some companies from merging because of some embarrassing emails they don't want disclosed? That's a heckuva bet, and I think they'll call her bluff.
The Democrats are obviously jobbing, the two-party system is effectively one functional party since the corporations like Microsoft own both sides anyways. It wouldn't have mattered which party was in power when MS was buying ABK, it was going to be allowed by the US Government either way.

The only reason MS doesn't ABK right now is because of the UK. Not the EU, not the US, and certainly not China. The unlikely savior of gaming is the fucking Nation of Brexit.
 
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I totally get where you're coming from, but I read stuff like this:




And it's like they're literally counting their moral victories. You only have so much time in office to do something and this is how you're going to spend your time in hopes that someone else in the future will go, "hey, wait a second."

This is precisely one of the reasons I cannot stand the modern Democratic party. Acting powerless.

All I'm saying is choose your battles wisely and give those battles your all. She's literally challenging everything and losing and maybe...maybe that deters some companies from merging because of some embarrassing emails they don't want disclosed? That's a heckuva bet, and I think they'll call her bluff.
Even Corley herself (which is now on record) mentioned that they're working with far less resources and access to said resources compared to the private sector, let alone the 2nd largest company in the world.

That's ammo to them, me thinks. But who knows. I lost faith in anything government a long time ago.
 
In Cold Blood In Cold Blood someone is in need of your education.
I agree with them in some ways.
Positives for Xbox? COD etc in GP, maybe some exclusives when the studios arnt working on COD.
Other than that? King sucks. I don't like Blizzard games, and while I love COD, that's one IP.

Microsoft paid 110 million for Ninja Theory. They could have bought 60 Ninja Theory's for the same price as ABK. They paid 7 Billion for Zenimax. They could have bought 9 Zenimaxs for the same price.

I would take 60 Ninja Theory's or 9 Zenimaxs over ABK. They would be bringing out AAA exclusive game every couple of weeks.
 
I'm not a fan of her or the ideology she represents, but, I believe they want those loses. They're building a case to show how inept and toothless the FTC actually is to massive unfetteted corporations.
Deliberately wasting your scant resources on failure after failure to prove that you should be given more resources is something only a politician could come up with.
 
Don't you think that's a distorted view maybe? Why is it that you accept MS's framing of the context, they don't get to control the clock. It can't be like that. Both EC, CMA and FTC have moved against the merger. It's a self imposed timeline.
All deals have timelines in which the offer for purchase is valid - this isn't a Microsoft invention, this is literally business 101. The time frame set for the purchase when the offer is made must therefore encompass all necessary regulatory hurdles, which in this case it did - hence why everyone except the CMA and FTC has been able to approve the deal. However, regulators don't get to drag their feet to "run down the clock". This is not an acceptable alternative strategy for a regulator who doesn't have a case. They don't get to have a way to kill any deal they want, regardless of the basis for their objections, by abusing the time-limited nature of a purchase offer. That's not how a functioning regulatory system operates.
 
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