2023-10-14 06:46:06
By Chloé Woitier
Published yesterday at 7:03 p.m., Updated 3 hours ago
Microsoft finalized the acquisition of American video game publisher Activision on Friday. DADO RUVIC / REUTERS
NARRATIVE – The $69 billion deal was finalized Friday after months of standoff with American and British antitrust authorities, and strong opposition from Sony.
This is the epilogue of a saga which, lasting almost two years, involved the main competition authorities in the world. After vetoing it in April, London finally gave the green light on Friday morning to the largest merger in the tech and media sector since the takeover of Time Warner by AOL in 2001. We have cleared the final regulatory hurdle to finalize this acquisition », rejoiced in a press release Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft.
Nothing stands in the way of the $69 billion marriage between the IT giant and Activision, the largest American video game publisher ($7.5 billion in revenue in 2022). The latter owns some of the most powerful licenses in the sector: Call of Duty, World of Warcraft , Diablo et Candy Crusha mobile game which, despite its childish appearance, has generated more than $20 billion in revenue since it went online in 2012.
Birth of a colossus
The alliance will make Microsoft the third player in video games behind the Chinese Tencent and the Japanese Sony, the champion of video game consoles. Its PlayStation division fought hard to derail this merger, before giving up on July 16.
Also read: Tencent changes strategic course in the West
Very few believed in such a conclusion last April. The British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had just said no to the operation. The American Federal Trade Commission (FTC), led by a president determined not to let the tech titans get past anything, was preparing its trial. The European Commission is completing its in-depth investigation. But Microsoft has managed to turn around a desperate situation. He had to make concessions, find an ally in the form of the French company Ubisoft, and attempt an incredible poker move that trapped Lina Khan’s FTC.
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