Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have reached an understanding for postpone the acquisition deadline to the October 18, 2023, which otherwise would have finished at 08:59 this morning. In this way, the two sides will have more time to finalize the manoeuvre, pending a definitive verdict from the English CMA.
This extension of terms however will have a piece for Microsoft. It has in fact agreed with Activision Blizzard that will pay $96 per shareagainst the previously established $95.
The two sides also agreed on a higher penalty in case the acquisition fails if Microsoft or Activision Blizzard back out, which is now set at $3.5 billion if the deal doesn’t close by August 29, and rises to $4.5 billion billions of dollars if the date of September 15 is exceeded.
Activision has also agreed to “potentially keep the Company or certain assets of the Company separate or implement other legal alternatives to consummate the Merger” with UK regulators.
“Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have extended the merger agreement deadline to 10/18,” Phil Spencer said in a post on Twitter. “We are optimistic about achieving this goal and excited to bring more games to more players around the world.”
The reasons behind the postponement of the deadline
This new deadline for the acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been agreed due to the negotiations between Microsoft and the CMA on solutions to get the maneuver approved in the United Kingdom as well.
In fact, the British antitrust had initially rejected the operation in April, due to possible risks to competitiveness in the cloud gaming market, but in recent days it has decided to return to the negotiating tables with the Redmond giant and will issue a definitive verdict by 29 August 2023. In short, barring last-minute unforeseen events, if the go-ahead from the United Kingdom arrives, the acquisition will be completed by this date if not earlier and probably the new deadline of October 18 was decided out of pure caution.
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