China Reportedly Approves Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Acquisition

According to a recent Twitter post by The Verge’s Tom Warren, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has approved Microsoft’s proposal of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This makes it the 37th country to approve the proposed $69 billion acquisition, joining nations like the EU, Japan, and Brazil. Additionally, as announced earlier, Microsoft is currently in the process of appealing the CMA’s recent refusal to approve the acquisition in the UK. Currently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing Microsoft in the US in order to prevent the deal due to competition concerns.

Regarding the recent CMA block, Microsoft’s president Brad Smith said:

“We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal. The CMA’s decision rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns and discourages technology innovation and investment in the United Kingdom.

We have already signed contracts to make Activision Blizzard’s popular games available on 150 million more devices, and we remain committed to reinforcing these agreements through regulatory remedies. We’re especially disappointed that after lengthy deliberations, this decision appears to reflect a flawed understanding of this market and the way the relevant cloud technology actually works.”

 

The European Commission’s comment regarding the deals recent approval in the EU:

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard (‘Activision’) by Microsoft. The approval is conditional on full compliance with the commitments offered by Microsoft. The commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission and represent a significant improvement for cloud gaming as compared to the current situation.

Today’s decision follows an in-depth investigation of the proposed acquisition of Activision by Microsoft. As always, the Commission has based its decision on hard evidence, and on extensive information and feedback from competitors and customers, including from game developers and distributors as well as cloud game streaming platforms in the EU.

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