Xbox boss Phil Spencer is 'confident' that the Activision Blizzard acquisition will go through
Xbox's Phil Spencer is staying the course: Microsoft's long-delayed acquisition of Activision Blizzard will happen, he said on Sunday.
Spencer made the comment at an Xbox event called What's Next For Gaming today, where he emphasized that «Microsoft is very committed, we're very committed» to the acquisition. The current major hurdle for the acquisition is the United Kingdom's Competition and Market Authority, which has blocked the deal. Both Microsoft and Activision are appealing the authority's decision. The FTC in the US has also not yet approved the deal.
«We're out there to find solutions with the regulators that have questions, and that's what we're actively doing,» said Spencer, following up that regulators had problems in many different areas, but that Microsoft had spent significant time on the deal. «We're trying to get to solutions. We did that with the European Commission. I'm confident we'll find solutions in the other areas as well. It's taking time, it's taking focus, but I'm confident.»
It's a characteristically unruffled response from Spencer, who hasn't publicly wavered on his enthusiasm for the Microsoft-Activision acquisition since it was announced some 18 months ago, setting the gaming, finance, and media worlds abuzz with its record high numbers. If approved, Microsoft's deal to wholly acquire Activision-Blizzard would be by some metrics the largest acquisition of a media corporation in history—almost as much money as Disney paid to acquire 21st Century Fox, for example. It'll certainly be the largest gaming-related acquisition by an outrageous degree.
Phil Spencer is not the only person who thinks there's a chance. Just this week, a gaming industry analyst with prominent investment bank Jeffries
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