Extremely eye news reporter Zhang Yang
On January 18, Microsoft announced that it would spend nearly $70 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard, a maker that would make it a bigger video game company than Nintendo.
Activision Blizzard
The Associated Press report quoted industry analysts as saying that the $68.7 billion all-cash deal will make Microsoft, maker of the Xbox gaming system, one of the world's largest video game companies. It will also help it compete with technological rivals such as Meta (formerly Facebook), creating immersive virtual worlds for work and play.
If the deal can pass scrutiny by regulators in the U.S. and Europe in the coming months, it could become the largest tech acquisition in history. Dell acquired data storage company EMC in 2016 for about $60 billion.
For months, Blizzard has been charged with sexual harassment and non-pay investigations. Microsoft itself has been investigating sexual harassment and sexism within the company. On Tuesday, Microsoft CEO Nadella spoke about the issue during a conference call with investors.
"Our company culture is my number one priority, and for Activision Blizzard, we're also committed to driving it to improve our workplace culture, which is very important," Nadella said. ”
Analysts on Wall Street see the acquisition as a big win for Activision Blizzard, whose shares soared 25 percent in Tuesday's deal to make up for losses over the past six months since the discrimination lawsuit. However, Microsoft's stock price fell by about 2%.
Last year, Microsoft spent $7.5 billion to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of video game publisher Bethesda Softworks, which is behind the hit video games The Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout. Microsoft acquired Swedish game studio Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014, and its masterpieces include the hit game Minecraft.
Microsoft said it expects the deal to close in July. The latest acquisition will help strengthen its game subscription service for its game platform, Xbox Game, while also accelerating its march into the metaverse. While Xbox already has its own game production studio, Microsoft's control over so many game makers has raised questions about whether Microsoft could monopolize the game market by restricting game vendors such as Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft
Financial analyst Daniel Ives said the acquisition would take Microsoft ahead of Nintendo to become the world's third-largest video game company by revenue, behind Playstation maker Sony and Chinese tech giant Tencent.
"Microsoft needs to make aggressive deals to reach their cyber ambitions and metacosm strategy," Ives said. They are the only U.S. gamemaker able to strike a deal of this magnitude with other tech giants under massive technology scrutiny. ”
He pointed out that technology companies such as Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple are increasingly attracting the attention of antitrust regulators in the United States and Europe, and the scale of this transaction is bound to be strictly scrutinized by regulators. Microsoft's plan to buy voice recognition company Nuance for $16 billion has been shelved due to an investigation by britain's antitrust regulator.
Founded in 1979, Activision Blizzard has created many popular video games, most notably the Warcraft series, the StarCraft series, and the Call of Duty series.
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