Why Was Microsoft's Acquisition Of Activision Blizzard Rejected ?, And What's The Actions Will Microsoft Take After The Rejection Decision From CMA ?

Why was Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard rejected ?

Source: Microsoft Blog

Not long ago, several news were circulating about the issue of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard at a price of 68,9 billion dollars, as we published several articles about the steps that Microsoft was taking to increase the chance of accepting the deal for external bodies and other companies, especially the British Competition Authority CMA, as Microsoft signed a ten-year contract that provides for the purchase of the rights to Call of Duty games, as well as to avoid the argument of monopolizing games, Microsoft signed a contract with first-party gaming companies, most notably Nintendo as well Contract with companies for cloud streaming services for games such as Boosteroid and others.

All these contracts and clauses were increasing the chance of accepting the deal, but there was major obstacle that reduces the acceptance of the deal, which is the Japanese company Sony, as rejects this deal under the pretext that it is a monopoly of the gaming market and this is the same previous decision of the British Competition Authority as it issued a previous decision that the deal is a monopoly, but a short while ago the British Competition Authority suddenly changed its decision and stated that the deal is not a monopoly, and most likely the deals made by Microsoft have It contributed to changing this decision.

But yesterday the last decision was issued, which is awaited by millions, and unfortunately for Microsoft, the deal to acquire Activision Blizzard was rejected by the British Competition Authority under the pretext that the deal represents a major monopoly of the gaming market, meaning that the authority returned to its previous decision.

 Also, the British Prime Minister responds to the indignation and anger of Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, with words in which he mentions that the authority does not judge based on emotion or the interest of companies, but rather governs to serve the interest of the European citizen and serve the gaming market, as for Other bodies, such as the Scottish Authority and the South African State Authority, have offered their acceptance of the deal.

What is the actions will Microsoft take after the rejection decision from CMA ?

As for Microsoft, quoting Brad Smith, he stated after the decision that the company will not give up and will file an appeal to the court, and it is determined to get the authority to accept this deal next time, Microsoft also aims to get the US Federal Trade Commission FTC to give it the green light to complete the deal.

Please share your opinion, do you think Microsoft is able to get the British competition authority to accept the deal, and more importantly, will the deal be completed soon or will the deal end in a categorical rejection ?.