Britain hands Microsoft’s Activision deal an extra life
The world’s most zealous regulator has second thoughts
Merging companies have long seen Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority as something of an end-of-level boss. For two years running the CMA has blocked more deals than any other regulator, scotching ones like Meta’s acquisition of Giphy, a blameless meme-generator. This year it has been busy again, in April blocking Microsoft’s $69bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a video-game maker, which had looked on track for approval elsewhere.
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This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “An extra life”
Business July 15th 2023
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From the July 15th 2023 edition
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