Britain's Competition Appeal Tribunal grants adjournment on Microsoft-Activision deal (updated)

Activision Blizzard

21/07/2023 17:40

(Adds background in new paragraphs 2,3,4)
       LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Britain's Competition Appeal
Tribunal granted the adjournment application which was requested
jointly by the antitrust regulator, the CMA, and Microsoft
 MSFT.O , as part of the latter's plan to try to buy Activision
Blizzard  ATVI.O . 
    The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is waiting for
Microsoft to submit a modified deal structure which the U.S.
software giant hopes will help it gain UK regulatory approval to
buy "Call of Duty" maker Activision. 
        As part of this, the CMA extended its final deadline on
the deal to Aug. 29 and together the pair applied to the CAT to
pause the appeals process, which it agreed to do in a statement
on Friday. 
  
        The CMA initially blocked the $69 billion deal in April
over concerns about its impact on competition in the cloud
gaming market, but it has since reopened talks on the deal. 
  

 (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Alistair Smout and Louise
Heavens)
 ((sarah.young@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 1109; Reuters
Messaging: sarah.young.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))