European Commission (EC) insiders told Reuters that the regulatory agency likely won’t require Microsoft to divest any assets in order to secure its $69 billion Activision Blizzard.
The big picture: Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been a heavily scrutinized and criticized merger for more than a year, receiving resistance from regulators across the US, UK, and EU. Sources close to the EU’s European Commission are now indicating that the agency will not require Microsoft to sell any assets to obtain acquisition approval. The decision would give Microsoft a much-needed step toward completing the acquisition.
European Commission (EC) insiders told Reuters that the regulatory agency likely won’t require Microsoft to divest any assets in order to secure its $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. The hotly contested merger has been a focus of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), UK’s Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA), and the EU’s EC since the merger’s announcement in January of 2022.
According to the report, the EC would allow Microsoft to overcome any regulatory concerns by providing licensing deals to rival companies and platforms.
