JD.com Pledges 22 Billion Yuan Housing Support for Couriers as China’s Instant Retail Competition Heats Up 
Coca-Cola’s Proposed Sale of Costa Coffee Faces Uncertainty Amid Price Dispute 
Evercore Reaffirms Alphabet’s Search Dominance as AI Competition Intensifies 
Coca-Cola’s Costa Coffee Sale Faces Uncertainty as Talks With TDR Capital Hit Snag 
Australia Enforces World-First Social Media Age Limit as Global Regulation Looms 
ANZ Faces Legal Battle as Former CEO Shayne Elliott Sues Over A$13.5 Million Bonus Dispute 
Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban Sparks Global Debate and Early Challenges 
Mizuho Raises Broadcom Price Target to $450 on Surging AI Chip Demand 
Nvidia Develops New Location-Verification Technology for AI Chips 
Trello Outage Disrupts Users as Access Issues Hit Atlassian’s Work Management Platform 
California Jury Awards $40 Million in Johnson & Johnson Talc Cancer Lawsuit 
Apple App Store Injunction Largely Upheld as Appeals Court Rules on Epic Games Case 
SpaceX Begins IPO Preparations as Wall Street Banks Line Up for Advisory Roles 
Trump Signs Executive Order to Establish National AI Regulation Standard 
China Adds Domestic AI Chips to Government Procurement List as U.S. Considers Easing Nvidia Export Curbs 
IBM Nears $11 Billion Deal to Acquire Confluent in Major AI and Data Push 
Adobe Strengthens AI Strategy Ahead of Q4 Earnings, Says Stifel 
Microsoft has reportedly responded to the request of the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for additional information on its pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard. If the FTC finds the added information sufficient, the deal could gain the regulatory body’s approval as soon as next month.
Recent reports claimed that Microsoft was able to respond to the FTC’s “Second Request” last week. This is where the commission asks the parties involved in an ongoing merger or acquisition for more information about the deal before it makes a decision.
Per the FTC’s website (via VGC), it will take an additional 30 days to review the response to the Second Request before the deal moves forward or before the FTC takes action on the proposal. The commission’s guidance, however, notes that both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have to respond to the FTC’s Second Request.
But the reports only specifically mentioned Microsoft, and it is unclear if Activision Blizzard has already responded to the Second Request. With that, the supposed FTC approval in August could be the best-case scenario for the companies.
Microsoft and Activision Blizzard announced in January that they entered an acquisition deal, where the Xbox maker is buying the latter in an all-cash deal for $95 per share which amounts to $68.7 billion. Due to the magnitude of this agreement, both companies expected the acquisition to undergo review for about 18 months. It means the deal might not be finalized until mid-2023.
The massive acquisition is also facing scrutiny in other parts of the world. Earlier this month, the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation on Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s agreement. The regulator told CNBC it is aiming to determine how the deal might affect market competition and if it could pose threats to the consumers “through higher prices, lower quality, or reduced choice.”
“We’re committed to answering questions from regulators and ultimately believe a thorough review will help the deal close with broad confidence, and that it will be positive for competition,” Microsoft corporate VP and general counsel Lisa Tanzi said. Tanzi added they “remain confident” that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard can be completed next year. The CMA has set a Sept. 1 deadline for its initial findings.
Photo by Marco Verch from Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons
