Microsoft: Read what Microsoft’s president has to say about solutions to remove UK block on Activision deal – Times of India

UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) officials blocked Microsoft’s biggest-ever gaming deal in April. Microsoft has since appealed to the British watchdog to change the decision. According to a report by Reuters, Microsoft’s president Brad Smith has said that the company is looking for solutions to try to get CMA’s approval for the tech giant’s $69 billion acquisition of “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard. Smith is also hopeful about the possibility that the outcome may change.
“I’m in search of solutions. If regulators have concerns we want to address them. If there are problems, we want to solve them. If the UK wants to impose regulatory requirements that go beyond those in the EU, we want to find ways to fulfil them,” Smith said at a UK Tech Policy Leadership conference in London.
However, Smith declined to comment on any meeting with the British government following the CMA’s veto on the deal. Previously, he warned that blocking this deal would shake confidence in the UK as a destination for tech businesses. Microsoft’s appeal to revoke the block on the Activision deal will be heard by the UK’s CMA at the end of July.
Status of the deal in EU and the US
Last month, the EU’s competition authorities approved the deal after they accepted remedies put forward by Microsoft. These solutions were broadly comparable to the ones the company proposed in the UK.

In a report shared by the EU, its antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager explained that the regulators don’t agree with the UK’s CMA over Microsoft’s 10-year remedies to allow rivals to stream Activision games. She also said that the deals have “significant procompetitive effects.” Vestager concluded the speech by discussing fair competition.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has also appealed the US Federal Trade Commission‘s (FTC) action seeking to block the deal. The agency claimed that the deal would suppress competition. The company’s appeal hearing with FTC for the deal’s approval will commence in the beginning of August.