Activision: EU decision soon – allegedly in favor of Microsoft

One has to be very careful here as there were similar reports before the UK decision and they turned out to be false: But the EU is said to allow Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard next Monday.

The takeover of Activision Blizzard is currently on the brink, because at the end of April the British competition authority, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), decided that the takeover cannot be allowed. The reason given was the cloud gaming business and the impending dominance of the Redmond company.

This came as quite a surprise, as it appeared Microsoft might be successful in overcoming the CMA’s concerns. In addition, shortly before the announcement, there were reports from well-known media that claimed to have found out that the takeover on the island was being waved through.

EU decision probably on May 15th

Now reported Reuters Similar to the EU investigation of the deal: According to information from the news agency, the monopoly guardians of the European Union will “probably” announce their decision on May 15th. That in itself is not a big surprise, since the EU Commission has set a deadline of May 22, 2023.

According to Reuters, the EU will approve the acquisition and of course that would be a huge achievement for Microsoft. The news agency does not give too many details here, citing “people familiar with the matter”. The EU should be satisfied with the agreements made by Microsoft with Nvidia and Nintendo, among others. The Redmond company has not signed an explicit contract with Valve, but the Steam operator announced that they trust Microsoft.

Should the EU approve the deal, then everything will depend on the decision of the US Federal Trade Commission. This could rather block the business, at least there were various indications beforehand that Microsoft can expect a lot of headwind from the FTC. It is currently unclear what an OK from the EU would mean for Great Britain. As such, experts believe that appeals from CMA decisions are very rarely successful.

See also:

Microsoft, Gaming, Games, Takeover, Eu, Europe, Activision Blizzard, EU Commission, European Union, Competition Law, European Commission, Antitrust Law, Takeover Battle, Competition Authority, Antitrust Authority