© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed over the Activision Blizzard logo shown in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration // File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Competition Court of Appeal has granted a delay request jointly sought by antitrust regulator, CMA, and Microsoft (NASDAQ:), as part of the latter’s plan to try to buy Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:).
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is waiting for Microsoft to submit a revised deal structure which the US software giant hopes will help it secure British regulatory approval for the purchase of “Call of Duty” maker Activision.
As part of that, the CMA extended the final deadline for the deal to Aug. 29, and the couple jointly applied to the CAT to pause the appeals process, which they agreed to do in a statement on Friday.
The CMA initially blocked the $69 billion deal in April over concerns about its impact on competition in the cloud gaming market, but has since reopened talks about the deal.