Microsoft's Licensing Offer Likely To Satisfy EU on Activision (reuters.com) 10
Microsoft's offer of licensing deals to rivals is likely to address EU antitrust concerns over its $69 billion acquisition of Activision, Reuters reported Thursday, citing three people familiar with the matter said, helping it to clear a major hurdle. From the report: Microsoft announced the Activision bid in January last year, its biggest ever, to take on leaders Tencent and Sony, in the booming videogaming market and to venture in the metaverse which is virtual online worlds where people can work, play and socialise.
The European Commission, which is scheduled to decide on the deal by April 25, is not expected to demand that Microsoft sell assets to win its approval, the people said. Microsoft President Brad Smith last month said the U.S. software group was ready to offer rivals licensing deals to address antitrust concerns but it would not sell Activision's lucrative "Call of Duty" franchise.
Re: we can get some nice chicks to do 69 so let us (Score:1)
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Politician got paid! (Score:2)
Where have I heard this before? (Score:1)
Who makes the decisions? (Score:2)
Honest question here, but how would the EU block the merger of two non-EU companies? I assume they couldn't actually block anything, just threaten to restrict access to their market?
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Both companies have a physical presence in the EU and sell stuff in the EU which means they are subject to EU laws (including anti-trust)
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MS has had to get approval for the merger/acquisition in just about every country/jurisdiction in the world, I imagine most like the EU would negotiate a deal to get it rubber stamped.