That’s a blast. Microsoft has officially announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard (Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, etc.) and is paying a whopping 69 billion US dollars for the deal.
That Microsoft is still busy expanding its portfolio of studios is nothing new. But nobody expected that it would go up in size right away, despite the expensive takeover of Bethesda and Zenimax (The Elder Scrolls, Fallout and others) some time ago. Because Microsoft has announced, to incorporate nothing more and nothing less than Activision Blizzard.
Also Activision Blizzard confirmed the acquisition on their own website. The agreement is therefore already there, now it’s just a matter of wrapping the deal in dry cloths and getting the approval of the antitrust authorities. According to Activision Blizzard, the acquisition and the necessary formalities are expected to be completed by the end of the 2023 fiscal year, i.e. by June 30, 2023.
A sum of 69 billion US dollars is mentioned as the amount for the takeover, i.e. 95 US dollars per share. This makes the deal by far the largest takeover in gaming history. There’s no comparison in terms of size: Disney took over the Star Wars brand for a whopping $4 billion at the time… Peanuts. Microsoft’s takeover of Bethesda was also a bargain at around $7.5 billion. Activision Blizzard’s stock price, which had been stumbling to date, immediately shot up by more than 30 percent after the announcement.
If the deal is finalized, it would be an immense increase in studios and brands for Microsoft. Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob and Treyarch are just some of the studios with a total of around 10,000 employees . Brands include Call of Duty, Diablo, World of WarCraft and many more, as well as some idle brands like Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, Crash Bandicoot.
Activision Blizzard is said to remain independent, but above all Phil Spencer is enthroned as CEO of Microsoft Gaming, who will report on Activision Blizzard’s leadership. With the deal completed, Microsoft would be the world’s third-largest gaming company, just behind Tencent and Sony.
As a result of the deal, as many Activision Blizzard games as possible will be offered as part of Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, which would further explode the already impressive number of at least 25 million subscribers, and cloud gaming should also get another boost.
For Microsoft, the ideal time for the takeover, after Activision Blizzard’s share prices had plummeted in recent months due to various scandals surrounding personnel management and the working atmosphere. In this context, Phil Spencer confirmed that Extend Microsoft’s inclusive culture to the great teams at Activision Blizzard
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella already confirmed in an investor call that there is a lot to do after the closing to create a culture in which everyone can do their best work. However, the controversial Bobby Kotick is to remain in office as head of the company until further notice. Not exactly surprising, as Microsoft can only actively intervene once the deal is completely bagged.
As early as July 2021, there were initial rumors that Vivendi, 61 percent majority owner of Activision Blizzard, wanted to sell large parts of its shares, with Microsoft and Time Warner already being mentioned as potential buyers. Probably wasn’t out of thin air…
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