They don’t need one since MS trade in the U.K. market.
There’s no enforcement mechanism to extract fines from a US corporation without a trade deal even if they are acting in another world area.
There’s a lot of case law on it and it’s been talked about at length by several bodies that have been pushing for UK-US trade deals.
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Interested to know whether the comment: Microsoft is bruised, angry, and plotting its next move, from the article is something he’s heard from Microsoft employees? If so this will atleast make for entertaining viewing as an angry Microsoft is what we’ve seen with their relationship with Google and they’ve been attacking them constantly on the AI front
Is the UK market important for Xbox? I have the impression that it is largely dominated by Playstation and that Xbox is only a very small part of it. Apparently 80% of SW Jedi Survivor’s sales are on PS. I feel like losing the deal is more damaging than losing the UK. Additionally, Xbox leaving UK also means COD leaving UK. This could put pressure on the government and the CMA to reverse its decision. I don’t know if it’s a good option, but I think it’s dangerous for Microsoft’s future to accept the ridiculous whims of regulators who are only there to shoot tech giants. Obtaining ABK and investing heavily in Europe, America and new markets could undoubtedly compensate for the loss of UK. I don’t know if it will go that far, but I hope solutions will be found so that the Xbox brand can continue to grow.
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While the Microsoft pulling out of UK doesn’t seem likely they might lower their investment there and it is of note to know Microsoft is a business and that’s what dictates their movement.
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It’s the 2nd biggest market after the US for Xbox.
Agreed. If the EC approves and we get an early approval from China, then I think Microsoft will use that to try to get the CMA to approve and if they don’t, they will have to come up with some way of moving on without the UK maybe through some compromise like dropping cloud in the UK or as many have said ringfence the UK. Lina khan could just have the UK block all the deals she can’t so it can’t be allowed to fester.
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How is that possible with the numbers we see every week?
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That’s not saying much.
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Oh absolutely, I’ve previously said I expect MS to reduce investment here if the deal doesn’t go through. But they won’t shut down all their services here and pull out completely, that’s madness.
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Because Xbox is pretty ass on every other market outside of the US lol.
If the CMA and the FTC win with such ridiculous arguments, they will continue to play god and block big tech acquisitions on the same ridiculous basis. I think the finality of this agreement is very important and that drastic measures will probably have to be taken to preserve the development of Xbox in the industry. This is clearly an abuse of power by the CMA and the FTC, it is a very serious situation that must be reversed.
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Chicago – April 5, 2023 – Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI) today issued the following statement in response to the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) final decision regarding its Mobile Radio Network Services market investigation. The CMA intends to impose a price control on Airwave, the private mobile radio communications network that Motorola Solutions acquired in 2016, altering a long-term contract that was mutually agreed, duly executed and is still in effect.
“Motorola Solutions strongly disagrees with the CMA’s final decision and believes it cannot be justified on competitive, economic or legal grounds. We will appeal the decision.
In 2016, the Home Office negotiated and agreed to the fixed price Airwave contracts, which were also provided to the CMA as part of the CMA’s approval of Motorola Solutions’ acquisition of Airwave. Despite the CMA finding no shortcomings in Airwave’s exceptional service, the CMA intends to forcibly reduce the contractually agreed pricing going forward. We believe this unprecedented overreach will have a chilling effect on long-term investment and contracting with the U.K. government.
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This theme is coming up a lot. The UK is risking status as a world economic leader.
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it’s a shame really as it’s the leaders that are fumbling.
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What numbers? Boxes hardware sales? Xbox has a huge digital share in UK. When we see the digital data it’s often a 45/55 split.
Xbox in the U.K. is big.
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I could be wrong, but I believe @OD62 was making a sly reference to a certain individual that likes to only post boxed sales as a metric of relevance…
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ABK has nothing to lose with an extension, they will only gain a larger break up fee with potentially a larger sale price. And if they win, at least $69B.
Microsoft has everything to gain. A valuable asset and crushing a regulator who doesnt operate to regulatory standards.
Microsoft nets over $1B profit a week. The delay in closing the deal has already paid for lawyers to puree the CMA at tribunal.
Microsoft will be richer at the end of the day and would gladly pay a few billion to defang a problematic regulator.
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ABK has nothing to lose? Apart from shareholder value….