Microsoft’s purchase of Activision sent shockwaves around the industry when it was announced in January. However, Microsoft wasn’t the only company interested in buying Activision. In a new legal document released by Activision, details on the background of the merger were revealed. This includes dates for all of the key moments, including when Xbox’s Phil Spencer first contacted Activision CEO Bobby Kotick about the acquisition.
Spencer first contacted Kotick on November 19, just three days after a damning Wall Street Journal report on Kotick. The report stated that Kotick was aware of all the workplace harassment issues that had been ongoing at the company. The timeline for the rest of the deal is fairly straightforward. One interesting part is that during the process, the company received multiple inquiries from other companies interested in purchasing Activision Blizzard.
Activision Blizzard confirmed that multiple third parties had approached the company in the past but that talks hadn’t progressed past “preliminary discussions.” On December 3, a few weeks after the negotiations with Microsoft began, Kotick received an email from the CEO of “another gaming company” about a potential purchase of Activision. The CEO in question also requested to meet in person with Kotick the following week.
An inquiry from another “individual” was received on December 6. That email was about the potential purchase of the Blizzard part of Activision Blizzard alone. The option of purchasing Activision Blizzard as a whole was also mentioned.
The Activision Blizzard board met on December 10 to discuss the Microsoft acquisition and consider the offers from the gaming company CEO and the “individual”. The board also discussed other potential gaming and technology companies that may be interested in purchasing Activision Blizzard. The proposal from the gaming company CEO was dismissed because the board believed it would have a “very significant stock component” compared to Microsoft’s all-cash offer.
The offer from the “individual” was questioned by the board. They were unsure of how credible the offer actually was due to the size and complexity of the acquisition. Interestingly, the board was also concerned with keeping a deal with the “individual” secret due to “prior dealings between Activision Blizzard and Individual.” The board didn’t trust whoever the “individual” is to remain quiet about the acquisition long enough for it to complete.
It’s not clear who any of the companies or individuals interested in purchasing Activision are. It is interesting to see that Microsoft was able to do the deal because it got there first.
