Brad Smith, President and vice chairman of Microsoft, provided the latest regulatory procedures for Activision Blizzard trading in an interview with l'echo, a Belgian website. According to Smith, who has served as Microsoft's general counsel and executive vice president of legal and corporate affairs for more than 13 years, things are moving fast for such a large acquisition. This process is approaching its "halfway":
Things are moving fast, at least fast enough for acquisitions of this size. We received this request here in Brussels and in Washington. We answer questions, give briefings, and provide the requested information. One of our lawyers summed this up well. He said: "we are coming to the end of the starting point, and now we are entering the starting point halfway". This is a long process, and we are still in the stage of answering questions. For us, of course, the sooner we finish it, the better, but we will respect this process.
When Microsoft announced an agreement in early 2022 to acquire Activision Blizzard at a price of nearly $70 billion, the company is expected to complete the transaction in the first half of 2023 and wait for regulatory approval. Given that the vast majority of shareholders of Activision Blizzard have voted in favor of the acquisition, the remaining obstacle for Microsoft is the potential opposition of regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission.
In fact, Lina Khan, the new chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, is known for his positive stance against such large-scale transactions. Under her guidance, the Federal Trade Commission has sued to block NVIDIA's acquisition of arm holdings.
The Federal Trade Commission has asked Microsoft and Activision Blizzard for more information, and the four senators have signed a joint letter to promote the Federal Trade Commission to dig deeper into the deal.