Call of Duty deal: Microsoft president has words of praise for Britain’s regulator

Microsoft faced opposition from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which the CMA believed would harm competition in the cloud gaming market. Microsoft's president, Brad Smith, initially criticized the decision, but later praised the CMA for being tough and fair.

In response to the CMA's concerns, Microsoft restructured the deal and gave cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft. Despite his initial disappointment, Smith now acknowledges the CMA's standards and respects their decision making process. Brad Smith (File photo Reuters) Microsoft was made to work hard to get a green light from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which blocked its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard saying that the deal will stifle competition in the cloud gaming market .

At that time, the company president Brad Smith criticised the decision saying the move was "bad for Britain" and termed it as Microsoft's "darkest day" in its four decades of working in the country. But apparently, he’s got a change of heart. In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Smith said the British regulator is “tough and fair”.

“I certainly learned a lot personally. I wouldn’t step back necessarily from all of the concerns I raised when I talked way back in April, but I might choose slightly different words to make my point,” he said during the interview. Microsoft’s revised deal After initially rejecting the merger, the CMA provided an olive branch and asked Microsoft to bring some changes to the deal to allay the fears of the regulator regarding competition.

Microsoft then restructured its Activision Blizzard deal and gave key cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft. “The CMA held to a tough standard and I respect that. In my view it was tough and fair. It pushed Microsoft to change the acquisition that we had proposed for Activision Blizzard, to spin out certain rights that the CMA was concerned about with respect to cloud gaming,” added Smith.

What Smith said earlier It was an interview with BBC where Smith said that Microsoft was "very disappointed" with the CMA's decision, "but more than that, unfortunately, I think it's bad for Britain". “It does more than shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we've ever confronted before.

People are shocked, people are disappointed, and people's confidence in technology in the UK has been severely shaken,” he said. Smith also said, “There's a clear message here the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom.” Explore Your Financial Landscape with Personalized Credit Insights.

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