The Microsoft and Activision Blizzard acquisition is underway and the US Federal Trade Commission is asking the two companies to produce information regarding the proposed buyout.
Now that the dust has settled relatively on Microsoft’s announcement of its mega-acquisition of game publisher Activision Blizzard, now starts the actual work of research and investigation that will ultimately lead to a yay or nay on a $68B deal.
Based on the regulatory filings it appears that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have moved into the Secondary Request phase of the FTC’s review of the proposed transaction and that an official request for additional documentation was filed on March 3, 2022.
The regulatory filing comes by way of Activision Blizzard where the company is asking for a vote from the stockholders to agree on the closing conditions of the merger, and thus the disclosure of where the deal is in the process of FTC review.
From a cursory view, the request from the FTC for additional information appears to be a formality and unless Microsoft or Activision fails to provide the desired documents within the “extended” waiting period, the process should proceed as normal.
In addition to an evolving business and political environment the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard deal will need to jump through an additional hurdle as the US Department of Justice weighs in on the merger.
If having the DOJ rummaging around in your backyard wasn’t enough, Microsoft an Activision will need to get the “ok” from international regulatory bodies that include the China State Administration for Market Regulation, Canadian Competition Bureau, UK Competition and Markets Authority, the EU Commission, and another potential 100 plus merger control entities.
It may be a while before we hear from Microsoft and Activision regarding IP, roadmaps and deliverables since it’s apparent the proposed acquisition is far from a done deal for either company at this point.
