Tag: activision

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the most successful tech CEO after Apple’s Steve Jobs?
12Feb By adminNo Comments
Technology

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the most successful tech CEO after Apple’s Steve Jobs?

[ad_1] Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been in the news virtually throughout the whole of the last year and 2024 has started with a bang too. This is courtesy of the major strides the company has taken in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) where its big bet on Sam Altman-led OpenAI has meant that Microsoft is virtually leading the race against rival tech titans with Google, Meta Platforms, and Amazon playing catch up. And the biggest rival of them all, Apple, is yet to start the race. With AI set to transform the world in every way imaginable and some ways that are still to be thought-up, the leadership in this space would itself have ensured Nadella's place at the top of the best tech CEOs ever list after Apple founder Steve Jobs.However, there is more to it. Success, in Nadella...
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How the Microsoft-Activision Deal Came Back From the Dead
23Aug By adminNo Comments
Technology

How the Microsoft-Activision Deal Came Back From the Dead

[ad_1] If Microsoft Corp. completes its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in the coming months, the $69 billion deal will go down as one of the biggest comeback stories in the history of mergers.By this past April, the gaming industry's biggest acquisition ever appeared doomed. US regulators had filed a challenge to the takeover and their counterparts in the UK had blocked it outright. But Microsoft resurrected the purchase earlier this summer, deploying what amounted to a bluff that pitted US and UK regulators against each another. And on Tuesday the UK agreed to open a fresh probe of the transaction, following an offer from Microsoft to sell the cloud rights of current and future Activision games released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft Entertainment SA. If the transaction clears t...
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What challenges does Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision deal face?
14Jul By adminNo Comments
Technology

What challenges does Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision deal face?

[ad_1] The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday asked an appeals court to temporarily stop Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard, hours after a federal judge rejected a similar request.The deal is facing varying responses around the world from regulators. WHAT IS THE ACTIVISION DEAL?Microsoft announced the Activision bid in January last year to boost its firepower in the booming videogaming market, take on leaders Tencent and Sony, and lay the base for its investment in metaverse and digital spaces which are made more lifelike by the use of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR). To quell antitrust concerns Microsoft, which owns Xbox, in February said it is ready to offer rivals licensing deals but it would not to sell Activision's lucr...
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Microsoft-Activision deal: What is ‘cloud gaming’?
28Apr By adminNo Comments
Technology

Microsoft-Activision deal: What is ‘cloud gaming’?

[ad_1] Technology firms have long dreamt of shifting gamers away from cumbersome consoles and physical purchases to subscriptions and virtual access -- essentially a Netflix for video games.However, on Wednesday the UK's antitrust regulator blocked Microsoft's purchase of Activision largely because it had the potential to kill competition in the still developing "cloud gaming" sector. - How does cloud gaming work? For decades, the console has been king. Sony's PlayStation, Microsoft's Xbox and various Nintendo units have dominated.Millions have also enjoyed gaming on their PCs.But the arrival of superfast broadband has allowed companies to experiment with new ways of delivering and monetising games.Rather than buying games and storing information on their personal consoles and PCs, game...
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Microsoft’s licensing offer likely to satisfy EU on Activision, sources say
3Mar By adminNo Comments
Technology

Microsoft’s licensing offer likely to satisfy EU on Activision, sources say

[ad_1] Microsoft's offer of licensing deals to rivals is likely to address EU antitrust concerns over its $69 billion acquisition of Activision, three people familiar with the matter said, helping it to clear a major hurdle. Microsoft announced the Activision bid in January last year, its biggest ever, to take on leaders Tencent and Sony, in the booming videogaming market and to venture in the metaverse which is virtual online worlds where people can work, play and socialise. The European Commission, which is scheduled to decide on the deal by April 25, is not expected to demand that Microsoft sell assets to win its approval, the people said. Activision shares spiked up 1.8% in pre-market trading after the Reuters' story was published. Microsoft President Brad Smith last month ...
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Microsoft in Showdown With EU to Save $69 Billion Deal
22Feb By adminNo Comments
Technology

Microsoft in Showdown With EU to Save $69 Billion Deal

[ad_1] Microsoft Corp. headed into a showdown with European Union antitrust watchdogs by insisting its $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard Inc. will “bring more competition” for gamers but pledging to show willingness to address antitrust concerns.“I think we'll make clear that our acquisition of Activision Blizzard will bring more games to more people on more devices and platforms than ever before,” Microsoft President Brad Smith told reporters ahead a closed-door hearing in Brussels. “We're more than willing, given our strategy, to address the concerns that others have, whether it's by contracts, like we did with Nintendo this morning, or whether it's by regulatory undertakings, as we've consistently been open to addressing,” Smith said. He was referring to the signing of a 1...
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Microsoft Sees No Activision Deal Without Call of Duty
22Feb By adminNo Comments
Technology

Microsoft Sees No Activision Deal Without Call of Duty

[ad_1] Microsoft Corp.'s $69 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard Inc. has no clear path to completion without the blockbuster title Call of Duty, president Brad Smith told reporters after a closed-door hearing in Brussels with European Union regulators. Smith struck an optimistic tone Tuesday after a day-long meeting defending the controversial deal. He said pacts struck with Nintendo Co. and Nvidia Corp. to share the game with their platforms meant that as many as 150 million more people would get access to it if the Activision deal is approved. UK regulators had suggested a potential remedy to carve out Activision's most successful title would be required to get the deal approved. “We don't think it's feasible or realistic to think that one game or one slice of this compan...
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Microsoft’s Activision deal hurts gamers, UK watchdog says
9Feb By adminNo Comments
Technology

Microsoft’s Activision deal hurts gamers, UK watchdog says

[ad_1] Microsoft's stalled $68.7 billion deal to buy video game company Activision Blizzard has hit a fresh hurdle in the United Kingdom, where the antitrust watchdog said Wednesday that it will stifle competition and hurt gamers.Britain's Competition and Markets Authority said its in-depth investigation found that the deal could strengthen Microsoft's position in the growing cloud gaming market, “harming U.K. gamers who cannot afford expensive consoles." In cloud gaming, players stream games on mobile phones and handheld devices they already own. The blockbuster deal also could hurt British gamers by “weakening the important rivalry” between Microsoft's Xbox console and Sony's rival PlayStation machines, the watchdog said in a provisional report. The all-cash deal, which is set to be ...
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Activision Blizzard Bookings Beat Estimates on Call of Duty
8Feb By adminNo Comments
Technology

Activision Blizzard Bookings Beat Estimates on Call of Duty

[ad_1] Activision Blizzard Inc. reported bookings that beat analysts' estimates on the strength of a new Call of Duty release as well as several other big titles. The video game publisher, which is in the process of being purchased by Microsoft Corp. for $69 billion, reported net bookings rose 43% to $3.57 billion in the fourth quarter. Analysts had estimated $3.08 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It was the biggest jump in bookings in nine quarters and signals a rebound for the gaming industry after a sluggish 2022. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.87 in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with estimates of $1.52. In October, Activision released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, the latest entry in the lucrative shooter series. It sold $1 billion in 10 day...
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Activision Blizzard settles SEC charges for $35 million
4Feb By adminNo Comments
Technology

Activision Blizzard settles SEC charges for $35 million

[ad_1] Government regulators announced Friday that videogame maker Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay $35 million to settle charges that it failed to maintain controls to collect and assess workplace complaints with regard to disclosure requirements and violated a federal whistleblower protection rule. The lack of necessary controls left Activision "without the means to determine whether larger issues existed that needed to be disclosed to investors,” said Jason Burt, director of the SEC's Denver office. “Moreover, taking action to impede former employees from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation is not only bad corporate governance, it is illegal.” In paying the settlement, Activision neither admitted ...
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