Microsoft's deal to acquire Activision Blizzard is still going through the boring legal processes right now, and the next step is for Activision Blizzard's shareholders to vote to approve the deal, with this set to take place on April 28th.
As you'd expect, the company is advising that the terms of the merger are "advisable, fair to and in the best interests of Activision Blizzard and its stockholders", and therefore recommends they vote in favour of the acquisition.
One of the most interesting parts of the SEC filing (as highlighted by GamesIndustry.biz) is the bit that talks about what happens if the merger doesn't go through, with ActiBlizz explaining that stock in the company would likely "decline significantly", and it may never return to the same price again:
"If the merger is not consummated, and depending on the circumstances that caused the merger not to be consummated, it is likely that the price of Activision Blizzard common stock will decline significantly. If that were to occur, it is uncertain when, if ever, the price of Activision Blizzard common stock would return to the price at which it trades as of the date of this proxy statement.
Accordingly, if the merger is not consummated, there can be no assurance as to the effect of these risks and opportunities on the future value of your shares of Activision Blizzard common stock."
It's also mentioned that under certain circumstances, Activision Blizzard could be required to pay Microsoft a $2.2 billion termination fee, and Microsoft could also be required to pay Activision Blizzard a reverse fee of $2-3 billion.
It seems unlikely the acquisition is going to face any roadblocks now, but we won't know the verdict of Activision Blizzard's shareholders until May 4th, so that'll give us an indication as to whether things are going smoothly or not. The entire deal is still set to be completed sometime prior to June 30, 2023, so there's a way to go yet.
Any thoughts on this? Let us know down in the comments below.
[source investor.activision.com, via gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 8
I’m sure they will vote for it. If there is any bumps it will be during regulatory procedures but after Disney was allowed to acquire Fox, this does not seem like if will trigger any tangible alarms.
I seriously doubt it won't go through. But I've been wrong before, lol.
@Tharsman Agreed. The merger is large for gaming community but not too unique for tech and entertainment business as a whole. I think most stockholders can see the writing on the wall and know this is the best way forward.
It will go through, and I think the reason it will go through is because they have agreed to release future titles on playstation as well, otherwise if all future games were xbox only then I'm sure the courts wouldn't allow it.
@UltimateOtaku91 I think that's doubtful. Look at the merger between Sprint and T-mobile. Made US phone service effectively a three carrier market between them, Verizon, and AT&T. Same with Disney and Fox studios. Anti-trust laws in the US have changed drastically over the past century, heavily favoring mergers and buyouts when both of them are American companies. Microsoft has also changed their lobbying since their legal issues in the early 2000's. If they're putting games on playstation it's not to sway regulators, that's for sure.
I hope it will go through, having spyro, crash, cod, and diablo on gamepass is pretty sweet 😃
The voting of the shareholders should be a formality, seeing as Microsoft is paying 95 dollars per share, and share price now is hovering around 79.
As for the FTC (DOJ won't intervene I heard) the other 2 big deals in entertainment Warner-Discovery and Amazon-MGM were eventually not opposed by the FTC recently, which bodes well for the completion of the deal.
I hope it goes through - but only as I want to see those devs get treated fairly like MS are promising.
In terms of games, I've already boycot them all and dont miss any.
If Blizzard were not Blizzard I'd be interested in the diablo games, but I cant see that MS is getting much attractive IP (to me) for the amount they are spending. For any other company I'd worry about it wasting money, but as its Ms and they own all the money trees, I'm not concerned by the apparent cost - they can afford it!
I'd be surprised if the buyout was not approved...
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