There is interesting data on the negotiations between Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard for the acquisition.
The acquisition of Activision Blizzard January 18 shook the game industry to its foundations, given the record $ 68.7 billion spent by Microsoft which stands as the largest capital spent in the history of the medium. Activision Blizzard is no stranger to the spotlight, both because over the years it has released numerous famous productions, and “earning” the attention of the world after a series of cases involving a culture of “constant sexual harassment“and workers’ rights repeatedly ignored and sometimes suppressed with threats and the like.
Phil Spencer said he was “deeply troubled” from these events in the newly acquired company, and added that Microsoft is “evaluating all aspects of its relationship with Activision Blizzard and is implementing proactive adjustment measures“, but it appears he quickly proposed the deal to Activision, because Microsoft wasn’t the only one interested in the acquisition.
The conversation between Spencer and Bobby Kotick began on November 19, just three days after the report of the Wall Street Journal about the CEO of Activision Blizzard and about 24 hours after Spencer said he was “troubled” by the facts uncovered. “During a conversation on another topic between Mr. Spencer and Mr. Kotick, Mr. Spencer expressed Microsoft’s interest in discussing strategic opportunities between Activision Blizzard and Microsoft and asked if it would be possible to make a call with Mr. Nadella the following day “reads the document.
The next day, in fact, this conversation was held with Satya Nadella, who was more explicit, talking about “strategic combination“with the company. Following this call there were two months of communications between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, resulting in the acquisition announced on January 18.
Activision was in contact with four other companies (and a single) regarding the same deal, sadly named simply “Company A, C, D and E” (it’s a “Individual B“), so there is no way of knowing who else was potentially reaching the agreement before Microsoft. We do know, however, that none of these negotiations went through for various reasons – for example” Company E “reported that it did not could afford a full takeover – and Microsoft aggressively pursued the deal by closing it even before other companies entered negotiations.
Source: The Verge
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