MS Extends Blizzard Acquisition Deadline by 3 Months

Microsoft (MS) has extended the deadline for acquiring the major U.S. game company Activision Blizzard by three months.

Blizzard announced on the 19th (local time) that it had agreed with MS to extend the merger deadline to October 18 by three months.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The original deadline for MS to acquire Blizzard was July 18. However, the acquisition was delayed due to obstacles from U.S. regulatory authorities, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), leading to the extension of the acquisition deadline. With this extension, both companies have gained additional time to persuade the FTC, CMA, and other authorities to approve the deal.

Along with this, the companies raised the penalty fee that MS must pay Blizzard if the acquisition is not completed after August 29 from the original $3 billion (as of July 18) to $3.5 billion. After September 15, the penalty will increase to $4.5 billion. Earlier, MS announced in early last year that it would acquire Blizzard for approximately $69 billion based on the stock price at that time. This was expected to be the largest acquisition in the tech sector at the time and was anticipated to be a "deal of the century."

Brad Smith, MS Vice Chairman, stated on Twitter that they would have sufficient time to resolve the remaining regulatory issues for the Blizzard acquisition. Unlike the European Union (EU) Commission, which approved the acquisition earlier, the UK CMA, which had previously rejected it, has recently changed its stance. Currently, the CMA has postponed the release of its final report by six weeks and is reviewing new proposals from MS regarding antitrust concerns. As a result, there is growing optimism about MS's acquisition of Blizzard.

Bobby Kotick, CEO of Blizzard, expressed hope for acquisition approval, saying, "While we cannot guarantee it, we believe the regulators will recognize that the solutions we proposed are reasonable." MS recently reached an agreement with Sony to continue allowing Blizzard's popular game 'Call of Duty' to be available on PlayStation. The FTC's recent injunction request to the court to halt MS's acquisition deal was also dismissed.