Shareholders Approve Microsoft’s $68.7bn Acquisition Bid for Activision Blizzard

Shareholders of Activision Blizzard have approved Microsoft’s $68.7 billion bid to buy the “Candy Crush” maker, the company said on Thursday.

The all-cash transaction puts the value of the videogame maker at $95 per share. More than 98% of the shares voted were in favor of the proposed transaction, the Santa Monica, California-based company said.

The deal, which is the biggest in gaming industry history, was announced in January by Microsoft. Activision is one of the biggest players in the game industry with famous games like “Call of Duty,” and “World of Warcraft.” The proposed transaction is expected to close before July 2023, if it passes regulatory review.

“Today’s overwhelmingly supportive vote by our stockholders confirms our shared belief that, combined with Microsoft, we will be even better positioned to create great value for our players,” said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.

However, the deal is facing a regulatory review by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), amid a mammoth of backlash facing the company over its response to allegations of discrimination and sexual harassment against female employees.

Acquisitions in the American tech industry have come under tighter scrutiny since trailblazing FTC chair, Lina Khan took office in June 2021. Under her leadership, companies in acquisition business have received pushbacks. For instance, the FTC has launched a probe on Nvidia’s attempt to purchase Arm and it has revived an antitrust case against Meta over its acquisition of Instagram.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will also need regulatory approval from the UK, the European Union, China and some other jurisdictions, according to an SEC filing.

Besides the regulatory concerns, Activision is facing a move by quality assurance employees at its Raven Software studio to unionize. When the acquisition was announced in January, quality assurance testers at Raven Software, a division of Activision, had been on strike for five weeks. They protested the layoffs of 12 contractors, which came after over a month of consistent overtime work.

“We realized in that moment that our day-to-day work and our crucial role in the games industry as QA was not being taken into consideration,” Onah Rongstad, a QA tester at Raven Software, told TechCrunch at the time.

Per TechCrunch, Raven Software concluded their strike by forming the historic first union at a major US gaming company, but Activision Blizzard did not voluntarily recognize their union, which meant that they had to file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board.

Activision’s attempt to quash the union failed after NLRB ruled in favor of the employees, giving the permission to vote for union recognition. That vote is expected to take place via mail between April 29 and May 20. With these issues surrounding the company, the acquisition has become a way out, particularly for Kotick who has been at the receiving end of the backlash. He is expected to step down at the close of the deal.