Microsoft appeals to regulators with new app policies so they don’t kill its $69 billion Activision deal
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/09/microsoft-issues-app-principles-ahead-of-activision-acquisition.html
Smart forward thinking on their part - now will it work to ease concerns?
1 Like
Yeah, MS doesn’t want to lose this cash cow ambling it’s way to their new Seattle home.
1 Like
If Disney buying out Fox was not blocked, it seems unlikely this one would be blocked either. But, yeah, sending the “good message” ™ is probably a wise idea.
2 Likes
The FTC and US DOJ have been useless since the late 90s. The last time they actually did something about anticompetitive behaviour etc was with AT&T in the early 80s. They’ve done jack squat diddly bugger all ever since. Various governments say “X company is great for the US economy, go easy on them” and they comply. Meanwhile, these very same government bodies attack foreign owned companies (tiktok, Huawei et al). Don’t give me that crap about them spying on people - the US government 100% does this with Microsoft, Apple and Cisco. Guaranteed. AV companies were banned from detecting and reporting carnivore as it was against US intelligence interests. The list goes on…the hypocrisy is REAL.
1 Like
Still trying to find Uyghur concentration camps in Arizona and evidence of the United States harvesting dissidents organs. The ones you can’t survive without. See everyone can play the whataboutism game. Care to chime in on the way the CCP treats foreign companies? The NSA won’t put a bullet in your head for criticizing our dear leader either, at least not yet. I have a few bones to pick with the FTC myself but I’m not going to support genocidal idiocy to do it. The FTC did at least oppose Nvidia swallowing up ARM.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/12/ftc-sues-
block-40-billion-semiconductor-chip-merger
3 Likes
The reason Activision stock didn’t tank with Bobby K’s evil actions is because Warren Buffet bought a billion dollars of stock before the Microsoft deal.
I feel Buffet was working with Bobby K. to boost the stock price.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/14/buffetts-berkshire-bought-activision-stock-before-microsoft-deal.html
1 Like
The rich get richer. 
Strangely enough, Activision stock has remained flat throughout all this. I thought for certain the stock would get a bump after Microsoft made a bid for it. But it’s been hovering around $80 from a high of $102 a year ago.
It went up from ~$65 to $82 when the buyout was announced. That is a lot.
It is a bit weird it hasnt gone up to nearly $95, being the value of ATVI if the deal goes through. There must be a lot of major players who think there is a significant risk the deal wont go through, including Warren Buffet. Personally dont believe it wont happen, but eh, not ready to bet against those people just yet.
Even if MS had not shown up, buying ATVI at $60-65 was a good bet though. Heck, it might have been a much better long-term bet without MS. Buffet probably bought for a return to 100+. Now he wont get that.
2 Likes
Actually Activision was trading over $90 in July 2020 and since has traded at over $100 early part of 2021 and six months ago it was trading for the same amount as it is today. Given all the news of MS and Warren Buffet, I would think it would warrant a price above the $81 it’s trading today. Unless investors don’t think there is much uptick to the take over.
Personally I bought some stock (very little since I’m not rich) sometime ago, and I was hoping for a bigger bump, but it hasn’t materialized. I’m still in a break even mode.
Yeah, I know, but it was $65 right before MS news. Which is what matters for how much those news changed things. MS takeover caused it to go up ~25%. Other stuff caused it to go from $100 to $65 in the first place (Blizzard self-destruction, end of covid, interest rates, inflation).
We know the exact uptick of the takeover. $95. The only question is whether the takeover goes through or not.
It definitely is a bit weird the stock isn’t sitting around $90-94. The only explanation is that knowledgeable people expect the antitrust review to become a problem for Microsoft.
I wouldn’t worry though. Even if the deal false apart, ATVI should be worth more than $80 in the long run, IF it manages to survive its current crisis (without losing all of its Blizzard employees, that is). Hence why it was at $65 pre-MS announcement. It seemed like the company might fall apart. It still might be. If the deal goes through it wont matter whether Blizzard disappears though. Well, it will matter for everyone interested in the games ATVI makes, but not for the stock price.
Btw, we know Buffet bought ATVI stocks. But he might have already sold again. Hard to conclude much about his view on the takeover probability is 
1 Like
I hope so.
Isn’t that insider trading…
Warren Buffet isn’t Jewish but he has deep Jewish business connections.
So He and BK worked together to make the Microsoft deal in order to save his evil butt from being kicked from ActivisionBlizzard.
https://jewishjournal.com/news/united-states/13198/
that’s still insider trading. If he had knowledge of the acquisition prior to purchase from ATI then he should be trialled and jailed. Like any one else.
At this point I think Elon Musk has proven beyond any reasonable doubt, that if you are rich enough, insider trading and stock manipulation is apparently not a problem.
1 Like
we can’t do a thing about that.
we are mere pions or the vast grey crowd of the countless ones that buy what they tell us to buy, when they tell us to buy it
1 Like
well we can. Ever heard of the French revolution? If those in power aren’t acting for the people, then they should be removed from power. Forcibly if needed.
Whoa there. LOL Who decides whether “THEY” are acting for or against the people? Because under such scenario we would be in perpetual revolution. And if history is any indication, after a revolution there’s always turmoil or the reign of some dictator/nutjob.
I guess what I’m trying to say: Be careful what you wish for. If the grass is greener on the other side, it’s most likely over a septic tank.
1 Like
Are you aware that most of the ruling class during the French Revolution was beheaded?