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Microsoft/Activision Blizzard Acquisition - Information Thread, update: The Deal Has Closed

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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Nvidia and Google have ‘expressed concerns’ to the FTC about the Microsoft-Activision deal | VGC

WWW.VIDEOGAMESCHRONICLE.COM
A new report claims the companies joined Sony in raising issues about the proposed acquisition…

 

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Nvidia and Google expressed their concerns to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about Microsoft‘s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, according to a new report.

 

Bloomberg cites sources familiar with the matter, who claim the two companies spoke to the FTC about their own issues with the potential deal.

 

In December, the FTC announced plans to file a lawsuit in a bid to stop Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision, which it argues would enable the company to “suppress competitors” to its Xbox consoles and its subscription content and cloud gaming business.

 

According to Bloomberg’s sources, both Nvidia and Google provided information to support the FTC’s argument that the acquisition could give Microsoft an unfair advantage in cloud, subscription and mobile gaming.

 

 

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Microsoft/Activision Blizzard Acquisition - Information Thread, update: Nvidia and Alphabet expressed "concerns" to FTC about acquisition
Keyser_Soze

Keyser_Soze

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Posted
6 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:
activision-blizzard-hq.jpg

Nvidia and Google have ‘expressed concerns’ to the FTC about the Microsoft-Activision deal | VGC

WWW.VIDEOGAMESCHRONICLE.COM
A new report claims the companies joined Sony in raising issues about the proposed acquisition…

 

 

Quote

However, one source also claimed that while Nvidia made a case for the need for equal and open access to games, it didn’t directly oppose the acquisition.

 

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TwinIon

TwinIon

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I'm surprised that Google was willing to say much at all to the FTC. They've got their own investigations to contend with, and it seems to me the cases against them are far easier to make. Google saying that Microsoft's acquisition could give them an unfair advantage is like the MLB complaining about college football teams changing conferences. Yeah, maybe there are arguments against big name teams consolidating to a few conferences, but when you're sitting on an actual monopoly, you're probably not the best one to bring up those arguments.

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SuperSpreader

SuperSpreader

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3 hours ago, TwinIon said:

I'm surprised that Google was willing to say much at all to the FTC. They've got their own investigations to contend with, and it seems to me the cases against them are far easier to make. Google saying that Microsoft's acquisition could give them an unfair advantage is like the MLB complaining about college football teams changing conferences. Yeah, maybe there are arguments against big name teams consolidating to a few conferences, but when you're sitting on an actual monopoly, you're probably not the best one to bring up those arguments.

 

They're just bitter about Stadia 

 

Very Funny Lol GIF by Vanessa Van Edwards

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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Exactly one year after the announcement:

 

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Microsoft set to lay off thousands of employees - The Verge

WWW.THEVERGE.COM
More than 10,000 jobs may be affected.

 

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Microsoft is preparing to announce job cuts tomorrow. Sky News reports that thousands of roles will be cut, with the software giant said to be looking at cutting around 5 percent of its workforce. With more than 220,000 employees at Microsoft, that could mean more than 10,000 layoffs.

 

While Sky News doesn’t name an exact date for the expected cuts, a source familiar with Microsoft’s plans tells The Verge that the company will likely announce layoffs on Wednesday, ahead of its quarterly earnings next week.

 

Bloomberg is also reporting that a number of layoffs will be announced in Microsoft’s engineering divisions tomorrow. The job cuts are said to be “significantly larger” than the 1 percent cut to Microsoft’s workforce last year. The previous job cuts affected positions in consulting and customer and partner solutions.

 

 

Business units confirmed to have been impacted:

• HoloLens
• Microsoft Edge
• marketing
• 343 Industries
• Bethesda

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Microsoft/Activision Blizzard Acquisition - Information Thread, update: exactly one year later, MS announces "rightsizing" of 10,000 employees (Bethesda and 343i affected)
Spawn_of_Apathy

Spawn_of_Apathy

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12 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Business units confirmed to have been impacted:

• HoloLens [dead if there’s no government contract] 
• Microsoft Edge [nobody uses it]
• marketing [kind of surprising] 
• 343 Industries [start with management and leads]
• Bethesda [I would have assumed marketing if MS wasn’t also laying off their own, but maybe it’s a consolidation and right sizing ] 


 

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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No idea how reliable this source is, but if true, then 343 Industries got it particularly hard:

 

F63D73A6-32EB-4265-B60F-5ACA7BEB6844.png

Report: Massive Layoffs Hit 343 Industries - Lords of Gaming

LORDSOFGAMING.NET
Today, it was announced that over 60 people have been laid off from 343 Industries the studio behind Halo Infinite

 

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According to our source, at least 60 people at 343 Industries have been laid off this morning from the Redmond, Washington-based developer. This is a significant portion of the workforce which at its peak employed over 450 people. The layoffs are said to be across the company. However, they are heaviest towards individuals working on the single-player side of the studio.

 

 

Edit: Jason Schreier is also confirming that 343i got hit hard:

 

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Microsoft won't share specific numbers, but several employees have told me that 343 Industries was hit hard. This comes in the wake of a long-running hiring freeze and a lot of contractor departures

 

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Microsoft/Activision Blizzard Acquisition - Information Thread, update: exactly one year later, MS announces "rightsizing" of 10,000 employees (Bethesda/The Coalition/343i affected)
Brian

Brian

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Riot is doing layoffs. I assume this will be seen throughout the industry in the coming months. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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CMA likely to publish provisional findings on Microsoft/Activision Blizzard merger by next week | Equity Report

T.CO
The CMA is expected to publish its provisional findings on the ongoing review of the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard merger in a week’s time.

 

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The UK's Competition and Markets Authority is expected to release its findings on the purchase of the videogame maker in a week's time, according to an Equity Report item, which cited a London-based lawyer advising a third party on the deal.

 

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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MS also received the "charge sheet" from the EU regulator earlier this week:

 

warzone-2.0-e.jpg

Microsoft ‘confident’ it can address EU concerns after receiving antitrust warning over Activision deal | VGC

WWW.VIDEOGAMESCHRONICLE.COM
The company says it’s committed to “finding a path forward” for the $69 billion acquisition…

 

Quote

 

Microsoft has said it’s “confident” it can address EU concerns after being issued with an antirust warning over its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

 

As expected, this week the EU issued Microsoft with a charge sheet setting out its concerns about the $69 billion deal, Politico reports.

 

In response to the EU’s statement of objections, Microsoft told the publication it is committed to “finding a path forward” for the deal.

 

“We are listening carefully to the European Commission’s concerns and are confident we can address them,” a spokesperson said.

 

 

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crispy4000

crispy4000

Posted
Posted
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Activision Blizzard to pay $35 million for breaking SEC whistleblower rule

WWW.SHACKNEWS.COM
The SEC has announced Activision Blizzard will pay the organization a $35 million settlement.

 

Quote

Activision Blizzard also violated the SEC’s whistleblower rule. Between 2016 and 2021, separation agreements between the publisher and ex-employees required the former workers to provide notice to Activision Blizzard if they were given a request for information from members of the SEC staff.

 

“The SEC’s order finds that Activision Blizzard failed to implement necessary controls to collect and review employee complaints about workplace misconduct, which left it without the means to determine whether larger issues existed that needed to be disclosed to investors,” said Jason Burt, Director of the SEC’s Denver Regional Office. “Moreover, taking action to impede former employees from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation is not only bad corporate governance, it is illegal.”

 

:shock:

 

Activision Blizzard: We're gag ruling ex-employes from talking with you.

SEC: Nice try. Get fucked, criminals.

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SuperSpreader

SuperSpreader

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10 hours ago, crispy4000 said:
sec-symbol-reuters_feature.jpg

Activision Blizzard to pay $35 million for breaking SEC whistleblower rule

WWW.SHACKNEWS.COM
The SEC has announced Activision Blizzard will pay the organization a $35 million settlement.

 

 

:shock:

 

Activision Blizzard: We're gag ruling ex-employes from talking with you.

SEC: Nice try. Get fucked, criminals.

 

Should have been more. This is just the shit they could prove. (Because they wrote it down.)

 

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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Microsoft expects the UK to oppose its acquisition of Activision Blizzard

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET
Microsoft is reportedly ready to fight what it expects to be opposition from the UK's competition regulator. According …

 

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Microsoft is reportedly ready to fight what it expects to be opposition from the UK's competition regulator.

 

According to the New York Times, the megacorp believes "the antitrust authority in Britain to oppose the transaction". It follows a similar intervention from the EU, which objected to a perceived risk in Microsoft owning Call of Duty given it could reduce competition in the video games industry.

 

According to four people "briefed on the matter who were not authorised to speak publicly", Microsoft hopes "to convince both Britain and the European Union to accept its concessions and approve the deal, which could make it easier for the company to reach an agreement with the FTC before the scheduled administrative trial starts in the summer".

 

 

 

Oh yeah - MS is totally going to have to "sacrifice" Blizzard to get this thing over the finish line.

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Remarkableriots

Remarkableriots

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:
Xbox-Series-X-and-Xbox-Series-S-consoles

Microsoft expects the UK to oppose its acquisition of Activision Blizzard

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET
Microsoft is reportedly ready to fight what it expects to be opposition from the UK's competition regulator. According …

 

 

 

Oh yeah - MS is totally going to have to "sacrifice" Blizzard to get this thing over the finish line.

As long as Blizzard goes to a better company, I'd be happy.

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Spawn_of_Apathy

Spawn_of_Apathy

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I don’t see why I’m they have to sacrifice Blizzard. It’s COD that everyone seems so damned worried about. Nobody’s like “but what about Overwatch and Diablo??” I mean I care about Diablo, but everyone’s got their nickers in a twist over MS owning COD. 
 

theyd probably make them sell off COD to a different developer or publisher. 
 

… who then would get bought by Sony with zero government opposition. lol 

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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Bobby Kotick warns UK risks ‘becoming Death Valley’ if it blocks Microsoft deal | VGC

WWW.VIDEOGAMESCHRONICLE.COM
Activision Blizzard's CEO claims regulators are “confused” about who’s competing with who in games…

 

Quote

 

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has claimed that blocking Microsoft’s acquisition of the Call of Duty publisher would represent a major blow to the UK government’s ambition of becoming a technology superpower.

 

The UK’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) is this week expected to issue its provisional findings on the $69 billion deal and notify the relevant parties of possible remedies to any antitrust concerns it may hold.

 

“If a deal like this can’t get through, they are not going to be Silicon Valley, they will be Death Valley,” Kotick told CNBC in a televised interview on Tuesday, the same day as UK prime minister Rishi Sunak announced the creation of a new standalone government department for science, innovation and technology.

 

 

 

"That's a nice economy you've got there. It'd be a real shame if something happened to it."

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Microsoft/Activision Blizzard Acquisition - Information Thread, update: Bobby "Bad Cop" Kotick threatens UK government if CMA anti-trust authority blocks deal
PaladinSolo

PaladinSolo

Posted
Posted
On 2/6/2023 at 12:20 AM, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

I don’t see why I’m they have to sacrifice Blizzard. It’s COD that everyone seems so damned worried about. Nobody’s like “but what about Overwatch and Diablo??” I mean I care about Diablo, but everyone’s got their nickers in a twist over MS owning COD. 
 

theyd probably make them sell off COD to a different developer or publisher. 
 

… who then would get bought by Sony with zero government opposition. lol 

Blizzard is far larger than CoD....

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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Just now, AbsolutSurgen said:

ActiLizzard had more revenue from mobile platforms than console and PC combined last year...  Wow.


Which is why King is infinitely  more important in this transaction than Blizzard.

 

Like I said before, Blizzard is the "no-brainer" concessionary sacrificial lamb if one was necessary to get this over the regulatory finish line.

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