Microsoft, Activision mull UK cloud-gaming rights sale – report (NASDAQ:ATVI)
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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) are evaluating selling some of their UK cloud-gaming rights to appease antitrust regulators opposed to the deal.
A potential resolution might involve selling the rights to a cloud-based marketplace for videogames in the UK to a telco, gaming or internet-based computing company, according to a Bloomberg Report, who cites people familiar with the matter.
Both Activision (ATVI) and Microsoft (MSFT) believe it is still possible that the $69 billion deal could close by Tuesday’s termination deadline, according to the report.
The report comes after a federal judge late Thursday rejected a Federal Trade Commission request to temporarily block the combination as regulators appealed an earlier decision letting the deal move forward.
After a lull in the UK litigation requested by both the companies and UK regulator the Competition and Markets Authority earlier this week, Microsoft (MSFT) still needs to get the remedies accepted by the CMA in order to get a regulatory green light in the UK.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is offering to make a small divestment to meet the UK antitrust regulator’s objections to the planned Activision (ATVI) deal, CNBC’s David Faber said Tuesday. Microsoft (MSFT) is offering a “small and discrete” divestment to CMA that regulators believe it will accept.
