Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. The largest takeover in its 46-year history

Microsoft is acquiring Activision, the troubled publisher of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Diablo. The deal will value Activision at $68.7 billion, far in excess of the $26 billion Microsoft paid to acquire LinkedIn in 2016. It’s Microsoft’s biggest push into gaming, and the company says it will be the “third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony” once the deal closes.

Microsoft would gain Activision’s nearly 400 million monthly gaming users and access to some of the world’s most popular games, which are expected to form a cornerstone of the metaverse. Combining with Microsoft will also give Activision access to a vast array of artificial intelligence and other programming talent.

“We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all,” says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

It would give Microsoft a significant boost in particular against Facebook, whose renaming of its parent company to Meta underscored its commitment to the metaverse. Adding Activision could bolster the virtual reality offerings from Microsoft’s Xbox unit as it competes with Facebook’s Oculus system.

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Microsoft the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue.

Can’t say I didn’t predict events like this in 2021:

Back to basics brought to you by LinkDap.

Sources:

• NYTIMES
• The Verge