Trading has halted for Activision Blizzard King’s shares in the NASDAQ.
As shared by Jaywood2010 on Youtube, NASDAQ officially announced a halt to trading of their stocks, with the reason code given being T1. T1 is code for pending news.
For those who may not remember, NASDAQ already made preparations for Activision to leave their stock exchange all the way back in July. Their slot is already to be taken by a digital advertising company named Trade Desk.
Of course, those earlier plans did not come to fruition because the CMA chose to ‘prevent’ the deal for Microsoft to acquire and merge with Activision Blizzard King. At the time, it appeared to be a major stumbling block, that could have even hinted at the deal not pushing through.
As we now know, the CMA would go on to face extreme pressure to reverse course and approve the deal, with many sectors of the UK government calling on the CMA to reverse their decision.
While all of this movement did seem to be propitiated by Microsoft exerting soft power on the UK government, what happened next was somewhat surprising. Microsoft applied to appeal the decision with the UK, but then talked to the CMA in private.
This was because Microsoft chose to engage with the CMA again to revise the deal to their satisfaction. Microsoft went so far as to join the CMA in requesting that the appeals process be put on hold, so that they could move forward with this settlement instead.
In any case, what was true then is also true now. The reason NASDAQ has made preparations for Activision to leave their stock exchange, is because Microsoft is about to finalize their deal. If the CMA made the decision to approve the deal, then NASDAQ would find out before the general public would.
This just naturally makes sense, and it’s even possible the CMA contacted NASDAQ directly about this. That’s because the CMA is not acting in a bubble, and would already be aware that NASDAQ would have to be notified to prepare appropriately. With all that said, it is more likely that Microsoft or Activision notified NASDAQ about this change.
Once the deal between the two companies finalizes, Microsoft takes on ownership of Activision’s stocks. It would subsequently become part of Microsoft’s listing on the stock exchange, and the valuation of Microsoft’s stocks would be adjusted accordingly.
