Activision: Deadline to close Microsoft merger extended to Oct. 18
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Investing.com — Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) announced Wednesday that it had agreed to extend the deadline for the close of its $69 billion mega-merger with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) while the deal is once again evaluated by British antitrust regulators.
In a statement, Activision said it had entered into an agreement with Microsoft waiving certain rights to terminate the tie-up if it is not completed by October 18. The maker of the uber-popular action shooter “Call of Duty” added that the fee for scrapping the deal would increase to $3.5B from $3B if it is not closed by Aug. 29. That will increase further to $4.5B if the acquisition is terminated after Sept. 15.
The two businesses had previously said they would have the transaction closed by July 18, but the merger faced major hurdles from both U.S. and U.K. competition authorities.
Earlier this month, Microsoft and Activision scored a key legal victory when a federal court in San Francisco denied the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s request for a temporary injunction preventing the closure of the deal, which would be the largest in the history of the video gaming industry. Appeals by the FTC were also rejected.
Shortly after the decision, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority, which had previously blocked the merger, said it was now open to hearing new remedies to their concerns over the deal from Microsoft and Activision. The CMA also pushed out its deadline for a final ruling back to Aug. 29.
Regulators have argued that Microsoft could use its purchase of Activision to make titles like “Call of Duty” exclusive to its own Xbox console, muscling out possible competition from rivals like Sony’s (NYSE:SONY) PlayStation and Nintendo (TYO:7974). Microsoft attempted to assuage these fears last weekend by signing a 10-year licensing agreement with Sony that will keep “Call of Duty” on PlayStation.
