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The Times quotes Gareth Mills on the CMA giving clearance to the $69bn Activision Blizzard-Microsoft deal

The UK competition regulator has finally approved Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to buy the gaming giant Activision Blizzard 21 months after it was first agreed.

The revised deal for Microsoft to buy Activision without cloud gaming rights has been cleared after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded that it would preserve competitive prices and better services. In blocking the original deal earlier this year the watchdog had previously cited concerns about fair competition in the cloud gaming market.

Gareth Mills, Partner, comments for The Times. He says that the change of position on such a high-profile case by the CMA was unprecedented. He continues:

Competition law is about to get sexy again. A raft of competition issues relating to the massive tech companies are coming down the track and will be with us very shortly indeed. Why? It largely comes down to just how big these businesses have become, some pushing $1 trillion valuations, leading to growing concern from regulators as to their supranational dominance.

Read the full article in The Times here (subscription required).

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