Troubles for US BigTech majors seem far from over, already facing tough regulatory challenges across the globe and in the EU in particular, now the US tech giant Microsoft Corp is in line of fire.
According to the British antitrust watchdog, the US company is being investigated over a $68.7 billion deal to buy ‘Call of Duty’ maker Activision Blizzard Inc.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had until September 1 to make its phase 1 decision on whether the deal between the US technology company and video-game maker Activision would reduce competition in the United Kingdom.
“We’re committed to answering questions from regulators and ultimately believe a thorough review will help the deal close with broad confidence, and that it will be positive for competition,” Lisa Tanzi, corporate vice president and general counsel of Microsoft reported to have said in a statement.
“We expect and think it’s appropriate for regulators to take a close look at this acquisition,” Tanzi said.
In the biggest gaming industry deal in history, Microsoft said in January it was buying Activision Blizzard. According to Refinitiv data, the Microsoft-Activision deal would be the largest all-cash acquisition on record.
The CMA’s Phase 1 investigation will either lead to the deal being cleared or will move to a more in-depth phase 2 review.
