Activision Blizzard CEO Hits Back At CMA, Says It Is Being “Dogmatic” In Ruling Against Microsoft Merger

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has hit back at the CMA following the UK regulator’s recent decision to try to block the Call of Duty company’s sale to Microsoft for $68.7 billion. In an interview with CNBC, Kotick made a number of claims, one of which was in reference to a supposed meeting between the CMA and the FTC.

Kotick said he heard about a meeting between the head of the CMA and Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission in the US. The FTC is suing Microsoft to try to stop the sale. Some believe the FTC and CMA are working together.

An FTC source told Reuters that Khan and the CMA did in fact meet last week but did not discuss the case. FTC guidelines state that “federal antitrust work often involves cooperating with international authorities around the world to promote sound competition policy approaches.”

“I was surprised to learn that Lina Khan and the head of the CMA had a meeting a week and a half ago in Washington. You know, legally, you’re not supposed to be discussing active litigation. I don’t know that they did,” Kotick said. “But, you know, I think that that’s what you’re seeing now is that the CMA is being used as a tool by the FTC to be able to create these kinds of outcomes, and it this isn’t the way that they’re supposed to be operating.”

A spokesperson for the FTC told Reuters, “The FTC absolutely did not collude with the CMA or any other international regulator on any proposed merger review.”

The spokesperson added: “When a deal appears blatantly anticompetitive then independent antitrust regulators can simply make their own judgments.”

In the CNBC interview, Kotick said the regulators who have opposed the sale are “taking dogmatic positions” and are not doing their job and serving their mission.

Kotick went on to say that the CMA’s decision came as a shock to Activision Blizzard because up until the decision came down on April 26, Kotick found the CMA to be “thoughtful and reasonable.”

“They seem like the cloud remedies that Microsoft offered, which were very generous cloud remedies, were going to result in a favorable decision. So the way that they interacted with us through the process is very different than what the outcome was,” he said.

Also in the interview, Kotick said it’s imperative that the sale be allowed to go through so American companies can better compete on a global scale. He cited TikTok owner ByteDance and League of Legends parent company Tencent as being the “best companies in their industries in the world.” Consolidation is a way for companies like Activision Blizzard to compete better, he said.

“For American companies to be able to effectively compete we have to be able to have consolidation and have these kinds of mergers,” he said.

Kotick is no stranger to controversy, of course. Many called for him to resign amid a series of allegations of workplace misconduct. In June 2022, the company released the results of its own internal investigation via its investor site. While the report did acknowledge individual instances of harassment, it claimed there was “no evidence” that senior executives ignored harassment or concealed information from the Board.