Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King are going all out in their latest attempt to convince regulators to accept their business deal for an acquisition.
As reported by Reuters, an 18 person delegation of the top executives of both companies will be appearing at the EU closed hearing to make their case for the deal.
Among those who will be present are Phil Spencer, the head of Team Xbox, Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard King, and Brad Smith, the president and vice chair of Microsoft. Yes, that’s all of Microsoft.
Smith had this to say about the upcoming hearing:
“I think we will make clear that our acquisition of Activision Blizzard will bring more games to more people on more devices and platforms than ever before.”
Now, this hearing will not be leading to the final decision from the EU. In fact, Microsoft will be looking to find out how the European Commission officials and regulators feel, so that they can better address their concerns in their submission of remedies.
So why is the president of Microsoft coming to this hearing? Smith is significantly higher up the totem pole, and while this deal is a big one for the company, he has a lot of other fish to fry. Microsoft just publicly released Sydney, the company’s ChatGPT based Bing chatbot. Smith also directly involves himself in politics, having pledged that the company will send aid to the Ukrainian war effort.
The likely reason is that Microsoft is banking on their president’s expertise: negotiation. As we touched on ourselves previously, Smith has a reputation as a smooth talker that gets deals done. When other CEOs go to war, he gets concessions at the bargaining table. Smith’s leadership towards this direction has also steered Microsoft away from the ruthlessness it displayed under Gates and Ballmer, and brought them to even greater success.
Smith’s presence will certainly be a far cry from Microsoft making so many demands from their competitor Sony via FTC subpoena that Sony referred to their actions as harassment.
Also on hand for the closed hearing will be Sony, represented by SIE President Jim Ryan, Nvidia, Google, Valve, and Electronic Arts. Regulators from other countries, including Germany, Belgium, Finland, and Spain will also be there. Note that these individual countries will be following the European Commission’s findings, as member countries of the EU.
This closed hearing is definitely the most important date for the month when it comes to this Microsoft-Activision deal. Keep reading Gameranx for the latest on Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard King.
