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EU regulators set to rule on Microsoft-Activision deal

Yahoo Finance

Yahoo Finance tech editor Dan Howley reports from the Google I/O 2023 Conference to discuss EU regulators ruling on the Microsoft-Activision deal next week.

Video transcript

DIANA KING HALL: Dan, you mentioned another tech giant there, Microsoft. According to a Reuters report, antitrust regulators in the EU are now actually expected to give a green light next week to Microsoft's deal to buy Activision-Blizzard, so a little bit of a pivot from what we're talking about. This comes though, after the UK blocked the deal. What happens now?

DAN HOWLEY: Yeah, look, this is still very much in flux. Microsoft could go ahead and probably will go ahead and try to appeal the UK's decision. But the EU carries a huge amount of cachet with it, right? If we have the EU saying that it's OK, if we have Japan saying it's OK, and other jurisdictions as well are saying, look, Microsoft can move forward with this, then it might put a little bit of pressure on the UK as far as that eventual appeal goes.

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Don't forget though, the FTC is also suing to stop this here in the US. So Microsoft and Activision still have a number of hurdles to get over before they can complete this $70 billion deal. If it goes through, it would be Microsoft's largest. And it would be absolutely huge for the company as far as its gaming enterprise because it would be able to then build out both its mobile and cloud gaming.

And the reason why the UK said they blocked it was because of a potential threat to the cloud gaming space. Microsoft is the leader in it. It's still very, very early. Google tried to get in and already bounced. Amazon is in there still. Nvidia's in there as well. And Sony's still trying to catch up.

But if Microsoft can somehow manage to turn around the UK and FTC, it could be a major win for them.

AKIKO FUJITA: Worth noting, by the way, Microsoft shares, they're hitting a new 52-week high today. Dan Howley in his element out there in Mountain View. Thanks so much for that from the Google I/O conference.