Correction: that’s 219,262,920,000 Freddos in real money
Microsoft made public their all-cashproposal to acquire Activision Blizzardfor $95 (£76) per share on January 18th, which was justa bit of a shock. The proposed deal would further consolidate the games industry and bring huge franchises like Call of Duty,Overwatch, Warcraft, Candy Crush and, really weirdly,Crash Bandicootunder Microsoft’s stewardship. Activision Blizzard’s, ahem, controversial CEOBobby Kotick, who reportedly proposedbuying games media outletsto ‘change the narrative’ surrounding the company, commented on the shareholders' approval:
At the end of March, Four United States senators including former Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts representative Elizabeth Warrenappealed to the Federal Trade Commissionto consider the effect of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard on workers before approving the deal. Bloombergreportthat the FTC’s lead Lina Khan is likely to oppose the deal when it’s reviewed. Other governments outside of the United States have also yet to approve the deal.
Activision Blizzard have struggled with accusations ofsexual harrassment,discriminationandpoor working conditionsfor their employees in recent years. These issues continue toplay out in public, although Activision Blizzard finally acknowledged the demands of unionised Quality Assurance testersacross most of the companyearlier this month. Only Raven Software were left out of this change, although the United States’ National Labor Relations Board has since ruled thatRaven’s QA staff can vote on unionisationwith ballots due to be sent out today.
