UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt seems to be unhappy with the fact that the Competition and Markets Authority is standing in the way of Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal. The CMA blocked the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard in late April.
The British regulator's reasoning for rejecting the deal was mostly rooted in antitrust concerns related to cloud gaming. According to the agency's official findings, buying the Call of Duty maker would provide Microsoft with too much easily abused power in this nascent market. Earlier in May, the CMA even imposed additional restrictions on Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition proposal, although industry watchers labeled that move as standard practice for the regulator.
Be that as it may, Chancellor Hunt appears to be unhappy with the CMA's overall stance on the deal, having suggested as much during his recent British Chambers of Commerce appearance. The London official used the May 17 conference as an opportunity to state that all UK regulators need to "understand their wider responsibilities for economic growth." His comments seem to dovetail with Activision's late April claims that the rejection of the $69 billion deal shows that the UK is "closed for business."
Chancellor Hunt's remarks appear to indicate some level of friction in the UK government's ranks as far as Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition is concerned. That's still not to say there's widespread support for the deal among London officials, and UK Prime Minister Rinshi Sunak already fired back at Microsoft after the tech giant criticized the CMA's rejection of its acquisition proposal. Furthermore, Chancellor Hunt himself stressed that his comments should not be interpreted as an attempt to "undermine" the CMA's decision.
Microsoft previously confirmed plans to appeal the agency's ruling and is expected to do so by early June. In the meantime, the company is still awaiting official approvals from Australia, New Zealand, and China. The deal's latest regulatory nod came from the European Union, who said the CMA "overstated" Microsoft's cloud gaming share in its Activision Blizzard decision. That's largely on account of the fact that the British regulator apparently counted all Game Pass subscribers as Xbox Cloud Gaming users, thus erroneously concluding that Microsoft already holds as much as 70% of the global cloud gaming market.
Another regulatory hurdle that Microsoft has yet to overcome stems from its home country, where the Federal Trade Commission sued to block its Activision Blizzard acquisition on antitrust grounds back in December. However, given how the U.S. agency hasn't yet actually filed for an injunction, Microsoft could theoretically still complete the transaction without the FTC's approval.
Source: Telegraph