Crazy how wrong otherera were during all the process. Remember driftinspirit and other annoying users? Those guys went
When the barrage of good news started droping lol
7 Likes
The moment CMA wanted to chat with Microsoft before the court date was a red flag for opposing side. Then itâs game over when CMA was said to like the deal. It was a crazy ride, thatâs for certain. I can see why it was so exhausting; I canât imagine how Phil and others were feeling during it.
1 Like
Yep, Phil an company have all the rights to celebrate that. I imagine he can sleep in peace now 
1 Like
I was pretty confident, even after the CMA decision - as I told everyone then, it was an impossibility that the CMA would kill this deal and that the FTC would lose (I said that from the get go, not because of fanboyism but because of a basic understanding of precedence).
7 Likes
How could anyone forget your discussions with Zappy! (which also ended up being wrong 
)
Honestly, this was the story of the year, what a crazy ride.
1 Like
This would be unbelievably bad PR, I canât see a universe where âTrillion-dollar megacorporation permanently garnishes wages of random citizensâ is worth it.
I thought this was dead dead dead. I figured it was all a formality from then on, but they played it masterfully.
I do and youâre right about everything but itâs probably best not to mention specific users or you might get modded for offsite drama 
I pretty much thought the CMA were going to block the deal when it was first announced, to use Microsoft as an example of how tough they are on big tech. When they blocked the deal I was pretty sure that was it.
1 Like
I think ultimately the fact is that we were both right. MS didnât give it up and the CMA didnât back down - MS offered up a watered down structural remedy and in the end had to go through the whole process again.
It feels like a conclusion that nobody really could predict.
4 Likes
100% confidence all the way through.
5 Likes
My belief was all based on the EU and if they were going to approve the deal or block it. If they blocked it, then I think Microsoft would said fuck it and let it go but once they approved the deal, I knew Microsoft wasnât letting ABK go no matter how long it was going to take to get it done.
Didnt really doubt. Once the CMA denied it I watched Pachters 2 interviews with Destin 6 or 7 times and it was pretty self evident the deal was going to close one way of the other.
The moment the FTC lost in court, the CMA turned tail and ran. All that nonsense about them being invincible was horseshit.
You guys had a strong will. In the other hand, my faith was shattered when the CMA did its (stupid) block.
1 Like
I thought Microsoft would push it as far as they could with the UK regulators within the time frames they could negotiate with ABK. I didnât expect them to be able to get a deal done with the CMA though, I thought they would have to try and go through the tribunal process
1 Like