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

Do you believe the deal will be approved?

  • Yes, will be approved without changes.

    Votes: 221 24.9%

  • Yes, will be approved but with structural changes to ABK.

    Votes: 102 11.5%

  • Yes, will be approved but only with behavioral concessions.

    Votes: 262 29.6%

  • No, will not be approved.

    Votes: 301 34.0%
  • Total voters
    886
  • Poll closed .
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Not open for further replies.
nightmare-slain said:
never heard of you before mate
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he may just be a lurker excited for the drama to continue, its not alty behaviour just yet

lol i accidentally typed bot two times in a row when I was tryint to type not, though.

400 more pages of drama is something we can all be excited about, its like your favorite show getting another season
 
James Sawyer Ford said:
I wasn't part of the "no extension gang", but I'm curious what terms were to Activision's favor to sign it
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The deal is practically done with just CMA's (ideally quick) resolution left. It would be kind of a really dumb thing to walk away at this point, or entertain new suitors and go through another round of 12, 18 months of legal costs for the armies of lawyers etc.
 
PaintTinJr said:
Looks like they haven't extended long enough to defend a full length appeal by Sony to the CMA's final report in 6 weeks time, assuming the adjournment is granted by Friday.
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Sony just signed the deal and why do y'all continue to assume this one country is going to stop the deal overall? MS can close today but they are playing nice for future acquisitions and this deal is getting done long before October
 
feynoob said:
PCMR to the win
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LmZP0oX.gif
 
Thirty7ven said:
It being real wasn't being disputed, what's being disputed is how MS and Corley both presented the situation as if the deal couldn't be extended.

It has been extended. Yes, the FTC could've and should've done a much better job, but the way the deadline was used to rush the hearing trial and ruling was wrong. All the talk about MS closing over the FTC and the CMA was also just smoke. Can't we acknowledge that fact?
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The deal was supposed to close on Monday.
the cat judge delayed the decision and made it little bit complicated for them.

if the judge didn't delay the decision, the deal could have been closed on Monday.

RIght now, this extension is anticipations to his decision and the outcome of the CMA.
 
So with Sony having signed a contract with Microsoft to bring CoD to Playstation for the next 10 years, the FTC has next to no case.

So we are just waiting for the adjournment conditions to be met, then for the CMA to review and agree to Microsoft's proposal (which they believe they can get done before August 29th).

And October 18th is a couple months buffer for anything unanticipated. If there are any hiccups that will push this past October 18, I fully expect Bobby to walk.
 
Thirty7ven said:
It being real wasn't being disputed, what's being disputed is how MS and Corley both presented the situation as if the deal couldn't be extended.

It has been extended. Yes, the FTC could've and should've done a much better job, but the way the deadline was used to rush the hearing trial and ruling was wrong. All the talk about MS closing over the FTC and the CMA was also just smoke. Can't we acknowledge that fact?
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You realize it was the FTC that was trying to utilize the deadline right? It didn't matter when the deadline was, they were going to drag their feet and go for the PI at the last minute hoping that the deal fell apart organically. If MS announced an extension beforehand, FTC simply waits until the extension deadline.
 
adamsapple said:
The deal is practically done with just CMA's (ideally quick) resolution left. It would be kind of a really dumb thing to walk away at this point, or entertain new suitors and go through another round of 12, 18 months of legal costs for the armies of lawyers etc.
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The deal is very small premium to fair market value and no longer represents an adequate compensation for complete sale

It would be dumb to either not renegotiate terms or walk away from the deal unless the shareholders are that concerned about the optics over the last 18 months and this whole circus of an acquisition
 
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POKEYCLYDE said:
So with Sony having signed a contract with Microsoft to bring CoD to Playstation for the next 10 years, the FTC has next to no case.
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They never had one really. The only good thing that came out of the FTC was all the revelations of happenings behind the scenes. But FTC actually taking on MS and winning?

No GIF
 





The text of the document he has linked in the tweet:



Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have jointly agreed to extend the merger agreement deadline from July 18, 2023 to October 18, 2023, to allow for additional time to resolve remaining regulatory concerns.

Additional details related to the extension of the agreement:

Activision Blizzard is entitled to pay $0.99 per share to its shareholders.
Both parties have agreed that the deal termination fee is not subject to any condition other than failure to close.
If the deal does not close by August 29, 2023 the termination fee payable by Microsoft if the agreement is terminated will increase from $3 billion to $3.5 billion. If the deal does not close by September 15, 2023, it will increase from $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion. Any termination fee will only be paid if the deal fails to close.
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King Dazzar said:
Repugnant isnt it.

The whole irony for me. Is that with all of this saga, the mask slipping, the transparency given to us of the real motivations and continual lying. Unprofessional audacious and arrogant out bursts from the likes of Brad. Supporting spin narrative by all of these shills. Has only served to push me away from the Xbox brand, not draw me in. So well done Xbox!
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Suspicious Season 3 GIF by Parks and Recreation

feynoob said:
PCMR to the win
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Kinda logical considering it includes Diablo 4 sales.
 
DaGwaphics said:
You realize it was the FTC that was trying to utilize the deadline right? It didn't matter when the deadline was, they were going to drag their feet and go for the PI at the last minute hoping that the deal fell apart organically. If MS announced an extension beforehand, FTC simply waits until the extension deadline.
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They wouldn't even have to go for the PI. They were going to just set any review after the deadline to stall out the deal.

So why did the FTC go for the PI? Because they were convinced MS would try to close over the CMA. Why did the CMA suddenly change their mind? Maybe they were also convinced that MS was going to close, and quickly saw the benefits of the carrot were better than the stick approach.

So many of you guys are so sure that was impossible, and I think you're all wrong and it doesn't matter how many laugh emojis you spam. You guys really think FTC just got "tricked" and then CMA did a reversal for zero reason? I will spell it out as plainly as I can. MS cannot close over the FTC in their biggest market. If the PI was granted, it was over. MS would have found a way to push through over the CMA though if they refused to play ball and it was just the CMA alone left. CMA saw this and made the correct call to preserve the UK's authority and business environment and worked out cloud remedies instead. CMA could have done that from the very start and avoided all this but they were being just as dishonest as the FTC's stalling bullshit.

Everything Brad Smith said publicly turned out to be true. He didn't start talking about aggressive actions to subvert the CMA publicly for just "smoke." The FTC didn't shoot themselves in the foot and then the CMA reverse themselves inexplicably for "smoke."
 
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Godot25 said:
Lol. Sony agreed to COD deal. They won't appeal anything anymore. Not to mention that only thing barring completion is CMA and their only worry is about cloud. They don't care about Sony anymore.
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No that's not what the CAT judge said at all. He was massively concerned that the process of what the CMA accept would get further feedback from "all" concerned parties, and he even floated the issue of 3rd parties challenging the CMA's new deal. You also must have missed the part where he insisted that Microsoft put in writing why Sony had a change of heart, as he was very concerned the FTC result having optics of causing the CMA to change, then leveraged Sony.

If the judge sees that Sony were leverage by the Microsoft through the CMA, the judge isn't going to deny Sony, or Google for that matter the opportunity to challenge the CMA, as he kept talking about a new merger agreement and a new phase 1.

Even if Microsoft have a NDA on Sony about the deal, the judge will happily quash that in the UK to get to the truth of what happened, given jim's public statements about the deal and how rubbish the deal he has signed, compared to the status quo - absent the merger.
 
Punished Miku said:
They wouldn't even have to go for the PI. They were going to just set any review after the deadline to stall out the deal.
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US law prohibits the FTC from denying due process, thus they can't actually use the review or internal legal process to stop a deal from closing. If they drag their feet that bad the companies just close the deal before the FTC completes their process, hence the PI attempt.

The thing is the internal review was done quickly enough that if they thought they had a winnable case they could have moved through that within the window of time they already had. FTC clearly thought they didn't have the case for that and the PI would be the easier case for them to win, in the hopes that it blew up the deal all together.
 
Punished Miku said:
They wouldn't even have to go for the PI. They were going to just set any review after the deadline to stall out the deal.

So why did the FTC go for the PI? Because they were convinced MS would try to close over the CMA. Why did the CMA suddenly change their mind? Maybe they were also convinced that MS was going to close, and quickly saw the benefits of the carrot were better than the stick approach.

So many of you guys are so sure that was impossible, and I think you're all wrong and it doesn't matter how many laugh emojis you spam. You guys really think FTC just got "tricked" and then CMA did a reversal for zero reason? I will spell it out as plainly as I can. MS cannot close over the FTC in their biggest market. If the PI was granted, it was over. MS would have found a way to push through over the CMA though if they refused to play ball and it was just the CMA alone left. CMA saw this and made the correct call to preserve the UK's authority and business environment and worked out cloud remedies instead. CMA could have done that from the very start and avoided all this but they were being just as dishonest as the FTC's stalling bullshit.

Everything Brad Smith said publicly turned out to be true. He didn't start talking about aggressive actions to subvert the CMA publicly for just "smoke." The FTC didn't shoot themselves in the foot and then the CMA reverse themselves inexplicably for "smoke."
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Well said Sir, problem is you got loads of posters who so wanted the deal to fail they thought Microsoft would pursue a lost cause for some reason. Microsoft have the best legal minds in the world working tirelessly to make the deal happen, yet the Gaf experts even now are still thinking Activision is gonna walk away 😅 its hilarious to read though.
 
No way in hell this drags out any longer than a few weeks .. they are gonna get this done before the first termination fee increase. If anything this is probably theatrics to benefit the CMA's change of heart and allow them to slow down the process a little so it doesn't seem so rush. In the end it will probably go through at the original price or close to it. Everyone is on board at this point.
 
Negotiator101 said:
Well said Sir, problem is you got loads of posters who so wanted the deal to fail they thought Microsoft would pursue a lost cause for some reason. Microsoft have the best legal minds in the world working tirelessly to make the deal happen, yet the Gaf experts even now are still thinking Activision is gonna walk away 😅 its hilarious to read though.
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I mean, they do have the best legal minds working on this (I know that their UK reps are the best in their field). At the same time, Microsoft and Xbox leadership have been show to be pretty thick, so it's been a lovely circus to behold.
 
gothmog said:
Good point. Given that streaming media is starting to really fall apart I don't know if his point of view is damaging as much as it is reality. Xbox needs a real leader that believes in milking people of every dollar instead of this socialist utopia called GamePass. :messenger_beaming:
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Bobby is Mr. Bottom Line. I'm pretty sure he was the originator of the focussed brand strategy, whereby Activision mothballed all their smaller properties in order to apply all their resources on a handful of core properties. Zelnick at Take Two basically followed suit and the results over the last decade or so have proven it to be a very profitable way to do business if you have the necessary mega-franchises.

Obviously running a platform versus a publisher is different, so its a very different mentality. And besides Kotick has answered to nobody but his shareholders for decades now, so I can't imagine him relishing having to work under MS corporate orders no matter how well he's compensated.
 
Banjo64 said:
I mean, they do have the best legal minds working on this (I know that their UK reps are the best in their field). At the same time, Microsoft and Xbox leadership have been show to be pretty thick, so it's been a lovely circus to behold.
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Yes I suppose, I meant the lawyers and solicitors working on the deal, so Microsoft will pay more now to extend the deal?
 
Negotiator101 said:
Well said Sir, problem is you got loads of posters who so wanted the deal to fail they thought Microsoft would pursue a lost cause for some reason. Microsoft have the best legal minds in the world working tirelessly to make the deal happen, yet the Gaf experts even now are still thinking Activision is gonna walk away 😅 its hilarious to read though.
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I think those thinking Activision is going to walk away are a small minority at this point.
 
Negotiator101 said:
It will be done in August, the CMA have said this themselves.
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The CMA aren't in charge, now. The CAT judge thinks they've damaged their reputation and has taken control of the process. Head of league at the CMA is probably losing his job if this deal goes through and is bad for gamers and the industry like any real gamer knows.
 
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