The IT Nerd

Microsoft just dropped a press release announcing that they are buying game company Activision Blizzard who makes games such as the hugely popular Call of Duty: Warzone and Warcraft:

Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion, inclusive of Activision Blizzard’s net cash. When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. The planned acquisition includes iconic franchises from the Activision, Blizzard and King studios like “Warcraft,” “Diablo,” “Overwatch,” “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” in addition to global eSports activities through Major League Gaming. The company has studios around the word with nearly 10,000 employees.

Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and he and his team will maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company’s culture and accelerate business growth. Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming.

Here’s what really interesting about this. Microsoft have decided to keep Bobby Kotick around. He’s been accused of creating a “frat boy” culture at Activision Blizzard and is under immense scrutiny for that. One wonders if Microsoft will deal with that eventually. In any case, this is a huge move by Microsoft and it will be interesting to not only see how that pays off for them, but what other companies like Sony and Apple do in response.

This entry was posted on January 18, 2022 at 9:12 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Microsoft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.