Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal ‘could be on a collision course with lawmakers’
Microsoft‘s acquisition of Activision Blizzard could be on a “collision course” with lawmakers in Washington DC, an expert has claimed.
Gene Munster, founder of tech investment firm Loup, appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday to discuss the breaking industry announcement, and suggested there may be a legal battle to follow before the deal is done.
Host Joe Kernan pointed out that despite Microsoft announcing that it was going to buy every Activision Blizzard share for $95 each, the share price was still staying around $89, and asked Munster why nobody was buying despite what appeared to be a ‘guaranteed’ $6 per share.
Munster replied by suggesting there was a conflict on the table, because Washington lawmakers have previously stated that they want to have greater control over corporate monopolies and this deal appears to go against that.
Just last Summer, President Biden signed an executive order promoting competition in the US economy which specifically called out Big Tech companies.
“The title of this episode [should be] Silicon Valley / DC Collision Course,” Munster said, “because effectively what Microsoft and Activision are doing is saying ‘we don’t buy it DC, we don’t buy that you want to create greater control around these companies, we don’t believe that you ultimately want to break up these companies’.
“And so I think that is the disconnect, is this seemingly flaunting by Microsoft about everything we’ve heard from Washington.”
He added: “I suspect that the legal advice and the banking advice that Microsoft and Activision have here is top shelf, no doubt, and so I think if DC doesn’t stand up and do something here, [then you] fast forward one, two years down the road and they start talking about greater regulation,
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