Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard Discussion Thread (Part 1)

Yeah it’s literally a full package deal

Wait…one or two people actually voted for King??? SMH lol

What are you gonna do people love Candy Crush

From a profit margin perspective isn’t King the biggest winner? So if they could only buy one and got them, it would help fund more games without being as big of a expense on development resources.

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Alvaro Bedoya just got confirmed as the FTC’s fifth comissioners, lets see what this means for the MS-ABK deal…

Hope with this, we can see a response faster wheter it is a “no” “negotiations” or a “confirmation”

He is highly likely to go after Apple and Google more.

And oil companies according to what Chuck Schummers wants, but we shall see. The only thing I hope from this is for a faster procedure of the review and to hear something from them soon.

That guy was mostly advocating for consumer privacy and data collection.

I do wonder if Xbox is actively trying to be as bland and quiet as possible because of this acquisition.

Not necessary. Negotiations take time.

Even ABK deal - despite being very very fast - took some time.

It’s been almost 4 months since the announcement. Bethesda took 5 or six months to get approved so imo July would be the earliest unless concessions were made

I also think that starting July, we will have more probabilities of hearing about the deal. (worst case scenario, regulators only say something in june-july next year :grimacing:) But you also have into account the difference in size and scale of the deal, the situation ABK was/is found in and the difference in regulators compared to that time and you get a lot of uncertainty.

FTC is relatively busy. Microsoft estimated that from July till the next June the deal will be closed so there is no point to count months for now.

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It would suck if they delay it.

Bethesda took 5 months 2 weeks and 2 days to CLOSE / COMPLETE. Approval in the US was before that. There were other regions which took a little longer to process.

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Oh yeah you are right! It was EU the last one (like a month before I think?) who gave the thumbs up to that acquisition.

Then we may probably hear something from US way before this year ends!

The sooner they can get this deal pushed through, the sooner Xboxs momentum can really ramp up. There is SO much that can start to happen once this deal goes through. It also opens Xbox’s studios to acquire more and keep growing. This is just so key to get to the finish line on as soon as they can.

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True, we should be prepared for the fact that on-going deals will restrict them for the first couple years however but there is certainly plenty they can do once the deal actually closes.

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So I was lurking the Xbox thread on other era and found a really interesting post a user made about the MS-ABK deal.

Take it with a grain of salt and everything, but user named Idas who is apparently an European Lawyer said the following (I want to share it with this community in case someone missed it):

An abridged version of the process would be as follows (if later I have more time I’ll explain it in more detail):

  • The two big regulatory organizations (FTC and the European Commission) have 30 and 25 days respectively to provide an answer once the merger/acquisition notification has been sent.

  • That notification hasn’t been sent yet. But the original press release said that the deal would close in the Fiscal year 2023. That means as soon as the 1st of July of 2022.

  • For that to be possible they have to sent the notification by the end of this month, May. That way, if the FTC/EC don’t answer in 30/25 days, the deal would be closed by the beginning of July (that’s not going to happen, but in theory it could and that’s why MS said that it could be closed in Fiscal Year 2023).

  • If the European Commission/FTC require more time (in this case no doubt that they will), the “second request” phase begins.

  • Here the deadlines are a bit more flexible, but not in Europe. The European Commission has to provide an answer in 90/120 days to the second request. The FTC can take a little bit longer, but not much longer because FTC and EC coordinate with each other in these processes.

  • The second request phase usually implies lots of information. That’s why usually it takes longer and it’s very expensive. But if you have the money and manpower (and MS does) you can accelerate the process by weeks.

  • By the end of the 90/120 days deadline the FTC/EC have to provide an answer: 1) no problem; 2) no problem but you have to make these concessions (normally known before the notification) 3) they oppose to the deal and can go to court.

  • So, if by the end of May they sent the notification, by the beginning of July the first phase should be finished.

In summary: this a legal process, there are deadlines that the regulatory institutions have to comply with and some parts of the process can be accelerated by the parties if they have the resources.

Again, take it with a grain of salt but if true, we may now know in what part of the process the deal is. Thanks Idas!

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Good summary :+1:

Interestingly the FTC now provides an "at your own risk closure now. ". They can review afterwards and force the company to divest all the merger assets.

https://www.mcguirewoods.com/client-resources/Alerts/2021/8/ftc-to-send-warnings-that-companies-close-at-their-own-risk#:~:text=The%20FTC’s%20announcement%20and%20the,of%20their%20HSR%20waiting%20periods.