Stock markets react after UK blocks Microsoft's Activision bid

The decision to ban the takeover of a major video game publisher is a major victory for supporters of the regulation of tech giants, who have made facing obstacles in the United States.< /p>

British antitrust regulators on Wednesday inflicted a major setback on Microsoft's plans to acquire video game giant Activision Blizzard for 69 billions of dollars, stalling the proposed deal and delivering a notable victory for government authorities everywhere who want to rein in Big Tech.

With its decision, the Authority competition and markets has dealt a potentially fatal blow to what would be the biggest consumer technology acquisition since AOL bought Time Warner two decades ago. The agency said Microsoft's proposals to ensure the acquisition won't harm competition "have not effectively addressed the concerns of the cloud gaming industry," a nascent part of the games industry.

The surprising decision bolstered Federal Trade Commission efforts to block the deal in the United States and was a clear victory for proponents of giant regulation technology like Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta, the parent company of Facebook. Their efforts, fueled by fears that companies wield too much power over online commerce and communications, have been thwarted by recent court losses and legislative failures.

"This is a big win for the broader effort to realign antitrust enforcement," said former F.T.C. chairman William E. Kovacic. Microsoft said it plans to appeal the decision.

Much of the attention on whether the deal would harm consumers had focused on the market for expensive game consoles, but the competition and markets Authority has focused on cloud gaming, a relatively new technology that allows people to stream games to their devices, bypassing the need for hardware like game consoles.

The ruling was an indication that regulators around the world are broadening their antitrust lens to include emerging markets and intend to help shape them before a handful of giant corporations do can dominate them. A failure to get approval in a big market like Britain or the United States could force Microsoft to back out of the acquisition, even if another European Union regulator hasn't made a decision. finale.

Lina Khan, the F.T.C. president, has made tough mergers a central part of her plan to rein in the tech giants. After the US agency filed a lawsuit in December to block the video game deal, Microsoft quickly tried to isolate Ms Khan by pushing European authorities to reach legal agreements that would address their concerns and allow to the agreement to pass. European Union antitrust regulators are expected to rule on the acquisition by May 22.

But UK officials have instead signaled that the era of deals easy-to-success technology was over. The F.T.C. is building an antitrust case against Amazon, and Ms. Khan said she is watching closely whether the tech giants abuse their power in the race to develop artificial intelligence tools.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"> On Wednesday, the F.T.C. said it was aligned with the UK regulator. "We also have concerns, as explained in our complaint, about the anti-competitive effects of this agreement," Holly Vedova, director of the agency's Competition Bureau, said in a statement.

Microsoft said it wants to complete the acquisition of Activision by July 18. If its appeal fails, the company will likely have to walk away and pay Activision a $3 billion severance fee, ending what would have been one of the biggest upheavals. -ups to the gaming industry for decades.

"We are particularly disappointed that after much deliberation, this decision appears to reflect an erroneous understanding of this market and of how the relevant cloud technology actually works,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement. like Call of Duty, said it aggressively" with Microsoft to overturn the decision.

"If the C.M.A.'s decision stands, it would stifle investment, competition and job creation in the UK gaming industry...