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Breaking: Microsoft to acquire Activision-Blizzard in near 70$ billion deal

DJ12

Member
Sorry to burst your bubble but Robert Altman died in 2021. There is no evidence the current CEO of Activision will still have a job post acquisition. All signs point to him being gone and the whole organization will be better for it.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but wasnt your point Phil will be in charge so he'll have no leverage. He will still be ceo until MS do something about it.

Being the ceo during the acquisition which he will be as it's stated him leaving is not part of the deal then at the very least he's due another payout if MS do want to get rid of him, if he doesn't do the decent thing and quit.

When they do get rid of him, Activision will probably still have a ceo just like zenimax does and operate under the guise of being independent.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Sorry to burst your bubble, but wasnt your point Phil will be in charge so he'll have no leverage. He will still be ceo until MS do something about it.

Being the ceo during the acquisition which he will be as it's stated him leaving is not part of the deal then at the very least he's due another payout if MS do want to get rid of him, if he doesn't do the decent thing and quit.

When they do get rid of him, Activision will probably still have a ceo just like zenimax does and operate under the guise of being independent.


I think the main difference is most people don't know or care about the CEO of Zenimax even if he's done shady shit as well.

But a lot of people, especially core forum goers like the folks here, absolutely loathe the shit out of Kotick, and that's the kind of negative PR MS/Phil would want to avoid. And the assumption was that him leaving was one of the core tenets of the buyout deal. Or at least that was my assumption.
 
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DJ12

Member
And the assumption was that him leaving was one of the core tenets of the buyout deal. Or at least that was my assumption.
Didnt they clarify him leaving is not part of the deal.

I'm sure aside from militant gaffers no one will really give a crap if he stays, especially if he acts upon the criticism which it looks like he is doing.
 
Sorry to burst your bubble, but wasnt your point Phil will be in charge so he'll have no leverage. He will still be ceo until MS do something about it.

Being the ceo during the acquisition which he will be as it's stated him leaving is not part of the deal then at the very least he's due another payout if MS do want to get rid of him, if he doesn't do the decent thing and quit.

When they do get rid of him, Activision will probably still have a ceo just like zenimax does and operate under the guise of being independent.
Uh the point that Kottick has no leverage remains true. The original announcement mentions that whoever is head of Activision would report to Phil. You have have no evidence that Kottick will remain after the acquisition or have any control of the company seeing how he would be an employee with a boss like anyone else at the company. With Kottick's history he would be a massive liability. It is quite odd to see some here insisting he will still be in charge after the acquisition.
 
Uh the point that Kottick has no leverage remains true. The original announcement mentions that whoever is head of Activision would report to Phil. You have have no evidence that Kottick will remain after the acquisition or have any control of the company seeing how he would be an employee with a boss like anyone else at the company. With Kottick's history he would be a massive liability. It is quite odd to see some here insisting he will still be in charge after the acquisition.
Quite right, if Kottick remains (and that's doubtful) he would be working under Phil Spencer. I'd imagine he would not like having to answer to to effectively his boss, so the chances of him remaining are highly unlikely IMO.
 

DJ12

Member
Uh the point that Kottick has no leverage remains true. The original announcement mentions that whoever is head of Activision would report to Phil. You have have no evidence that Kottick will remain after the acquisition or have any control of the company seeing how he would be an employee with a boss like anyone else at the company. With Kottick's history he would be a massive liability. It is quite odd to see some here insisting he will still be in charge after the acquisition.
It's only a page away where it states his role and/or departure hasn't been discussed as part of the deal.

Not much of a leap to come to the conclusion he's still going to be there after ms has taken over.

If he doesn't quit ms will either have to fire him or pay him off.

It really is irrelevant to me who is in charge of these companies as long as they don't cancel games I like.

I do think that they haven't removed the ceo of zenimax tells you Phil isn't as hands on as you are portraying.
 
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Ozriel

M$FT
It's only a page away where it states his role and/or departure hasn't been discussed as part of the deal.

Not much of a leap to come to the conclusion he's still going to be there after ms has taken over.

If he doesn't quit ms will either have to fire him or pay him off.

It really is irrelevant to me who is in charge of these companies as long as they don't cancel games I like.

I do think that they haven't removed the ceo of zenimax tells you Phil isn't as hands on as you are portraying.


There is no way on this earth that Bobby Kotick would be left on as CEO of an activision subsidiary of Microsoft.

Coming to the conclusion that Kotick would be left in place is a massive leap.


Keeping him on would be a massive PR blunder and would leave a lot of disgruntled employees. No way that’ll happen
 
It's only a page away where it states his role and/or departure hasn't been discussed as part of the deal.

Not much of a leap to come to the conclusion he's still going to be there after ms has taken over.

If he doesn't quit ms will either have to fire him or pay him off.

It really is irrelevant to me who is in charge of these companies as long as they don't cancel games I like.

I do think that they haven't removed the ceo of zenimax tells you Phil isn't as hands on as you are portraying.
Yeah shocking that Phil hasn't fired him already even though MS isn't in charge yet.🙄 Anouncing his departure during the acquisition process could affect the stock price which could negatively affect the price MS is paying. In addition big companies are risk averse and a guy who has garnered almost nothing but negative news for years will not be kept on. The only reason he hasn't left sooner was his influence over the Activision board. After the acquisition that board is gone and so is he.
 

MikeM

Member
Yep. Future CODs, Overwatch 2, Diablo and all their IP straight into Gamepass.

Happy times 😀
And old IP with FPS boost.

laugh smile GIF
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
One of the lawsuits against Acti/Blizz has been dismissed by judges:


The investor lawsuit described Activision Blizzard as a "breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women" while essentially being fully aware of what the results of the DFEH investigation would be. Unfortunately, this claim was recently dismissed by US District Judge Percy Anderson on the grounds of fraud by hindsight:
 

reksveks

Member
Will just post updates on the deal here

“I strongly believe that merger investigations must scrutinize the impact on labor markets,” Khan said. “Whenever the FTC initiates a merger review, we are committed to thoroughly examining effects on competition in all relevant markets for potential law enforcement action.”

Khan’s letter was a response to a March 31 missive from Warren and other senators urging the FTC to closely examine how the proposed deal would impact workers at Activision, who have called for greater accountability at the company in the wake of sexual harassment and discrimination allegations.

In her letter, Khan said the FTC is also focusing on whether certain types of contracts, such as non-compete clauses that bar workers from switching jobs within an industry or non-disclosure agreements, violate antitrust or consumer protection laws.

The tech giant also said last week it would stop using non-competes or confidentiality clauses to bar workers from talking about discrimination or harassment as part of a settlement or separation deal.

The two moves are widely viewed as efforts by Microsoft to assuage potential regulatory concerns about its Activision buy.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...g-labor-impact-of-microsoft-activision-merger

I would say that MS are getting ahead of alot of things
 

Topher

Gold Member



The government wants MS to invest more into gaming. Looks like the FTC probe is going smooth and they're paving the way for more acquisitions in the future.


That has nothing to do with the FTC. Senator Shumer wants Microsoft to invest in his state of New York. All politicians do that in the US.

 

n0razi

Member
Microsoft buying Minecraft and now CoD is pretty genius.... Just add Roblox and EA and you have like 90% of the Western market
 
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