blizzard Microsoft Nears Deal to Buy Activision Blizzard for Nearly $70 Billion

[Staff 1,502]

 

The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft is nearing a deal to buy Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion, which is the largest deal of all time in the sector.

Microsoft is set to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion including net cash. The company will pay $95 a share for Activision Blizzard. A Microsoft PR person told Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier that Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard. Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming.

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When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. The planned acquisition includes iconic franchises from Activision, Blizzard and King studios like "Warcraft," "Diablo," "Overwatch," "Call of Duty" and "Candy Crush," in addition to global esports activities through Major League Gaming.

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Source: The Wall Street Journal

[PepperAmmy 34]

step 1 fire bobby

step 2 purge dodgy workers

step 3 try and re kindle peoples love for blizzard games before its too late

[Harvey 60]

Hurray! While Microsoft does not always have the best development ideas for games, but I feel Activision is too far gone for us gamers to expect it to change for the better on its own. At least, a change in ownership allows room for hope. 😏

[Calysia 229]

Not sure if I like this or not. If Microsoft doesn't interfere with game development it should be alright I guess.

[zigrifid 135]

Does that mean that activision will no longer have a grasp on blizzard and it will turn into microsoft blizzard?? i dont know how these things work honestly 😕

[Leaflauncher 8]

😮

[Dejo93 1,023]

huh, was imagining Riot merging with Blizz, so we have a LoL and WoW crossover XD

 

Oh well

[Devylknyght 83]

wow on xbox confirmed

[zigrifid 135]

Guys a friend of mine that works as a cleaner in MS just send me this ! omg a leak from the next expansion https://i.imgur.com/BHbk8hB.jpg

[Kaelos 74]

50 minutes ago, Calysia said:

If Microsoft doesn't interfere with game development it should be alright I guess.

I'd say Blizzard need some changes. Their games aren't great lately.

[Logarithm 40]

33 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

huh, was imagining Riot merging with Blizz, so we have a LoL and WoW crossover XD

 

Oh well

That's kinda Heroes of the Storm

[Logarithm 40]

Honestly, could it get much worse than what Activision has done to our games? Maybe the gropey scandal lowered the price enough for Microsoft to get them and hopefully return things to the Blizzard way. 

[MZLICH 43]

The question is  whether we can have the games on steam or not... 

Edited January 18, 2022 by MZLICH

[Skayan 52]

1 hour ago, PepperAmmy said:

step 1 fire bobby

step 2 purge dodgy workers

step 3 try and re kindle peoples love for blizzard games before its too late

Got some good news for you

 

[RaidenTheLion 1]

31 minutes ago, Skayan said:

Got some good news for you

 

Got some bad news for you, as Bobby will reportedly stay for the foreseeable future

[RaidenTheLion 1]

1 hour ago, zigrifid said:

Does that mean that activision will no longer have a grasp on blizzard and it will turn into microsoft blizzard?? i dont know how these things work honestly 😕

No, Activision and Blizzard are kind of the same thing, it's not going anywhere, it's just that Microsoft will now blanket them both, and they'll have access to a higher budget.

[Danthalas 15]

1 hour ago, PepperAmmy said:

step 1 fire bobby

step 2 purge dodgy workers

step 3 try and re kindle peoples love for blizzard games before its too late

Unfortunately, the deal has been announced and MS/ABK decided that Step 1 was off the table.  In fact, Kotick gets to keep his job as ABK's CEO, despite the shareholder lawsuit that looks to have him kicked, despite his own, past legal/ethical harassment issues, and history of having led ABK into this mess.  Doesn't seem like the right guy to lead the company out of it to me, but WTF do I know? 🤷‍♂️

[Danthalas 15]

59 minutes ago, Logarithm said:

Honestly, could it get much worse than what Activision has done to our games? Maybe the gropey scandal lowered the price enough for Microsoft to get them and hopefully return things to the Blizzard way. 

Gave ABK a 45% premium per share OVER what it was priced BEFORE this *filtered* went down last July, from announcement I read in an article elsewhere, just a few minutes ago.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Danthalas

[Steveson 193]

2 hours ago, PepperAmmy said:

step 1 fire bobby

Guess again boyo - he officially stays even after the transaction

[Calysia 229]

3 hours ago, PepperAmmy said:

step 1 fire bobby

step 2 purge dodgy workers

step 3 try and re kindle peoples love for blizzard games before its too late

'fraid not:

"Microsoft has said that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will continue to serve in that position, but will report to Spencer after the deal closes."

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Calysia

[Calysia 229]

1 hour ago, Danthalas said:

Gave ABK a 45% premium per share OVER what it was priced BEFORE this *filtered* went down last July, from announcement I read in an article elsewhere, just a few minutes ago.

It was actually a 69% premium.

[Arcling 898]

1 hour ago, RaidenTheLion said:

No, Activision and Blizzard are kind of the same thing, it's not going anywhere, it's just that Microsoft will now blanket them both, and they'll have access to a higher budget.

More precisely, they will acquire Activision Blizzard holding (which came to be from the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games, which owned studios like Blizzard and some that don't exist anymore, like Sierra), which owns Activision (publishing and devs), Blizzard, King and MLG (e-sports). King as a mobile studio is their largest acquisition, they are making the most money for them, way above any other of their studios.

Hard to say if it's any positive or not, they might operate mostly the same under new owner. Perhaps they will push them to release some games faster, as OW2 especially, is taking too long to release.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Arcling

[Dejo93 1,023]

2 hours ago, Logarithm said:

That's kinda Heroes of the Storm

I meant more of a WoW expansion in LoL universe

[Logarithm 40]

39 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

I meant more of a WoW expansion in LoL universe

I honestly very much hope not. They're 2 completely different games and there is no need for a crossover into the WoW universe. We've already seen what happens when WoW's writers exceed their scope.

[Apologised 20]

19 hours ago, Logarithm said:

Honestly, could it get much worse than what Activision has done to our games? Maybe the gropey scandal lowered the price enough for Microsoft to get them and hopefully return things to the Blizzard way. 

That's EXACTLY what happened. Kotaku's sources were saying that Microsoft didn't start making offers until the second round of allegations that directly implicated Kotick tanked the share price of ABK even further.