The operation, which will close for 60,326 million euros, will make Microsoft the third largest video game company in the world.
Microsoft confirmed this Tuesday the acquisition for 68,700 million dollars (60,326 million euros), of Activision Blizzard, one of the largest video game companies in the world and responsible for well-known titles such as “Warcraft”, “Call of Duty”, “Diablo” and “Candy Crush”.
In a statement, the technology giant explained that the purchase will make it the third largest company in the video game sector behind Tencent and Sony.
The transaction will be paid for in cash and is expected to be completed this year, once regulatory approval is received.
This agreement far exceeds the purchase of Zynga by Take-Two for 12,700 million (11,152 million euros), announced last week and which had become the largest acquisition agreement in the video game segment. In 2020, Microsoft also announced the purchase of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda, one of the largest private video game developers and publishers in the world, for 7.5 billion dollars (6.585 billion euros).
Today is a historic moment. We are excited to announce that the world-renowned franchises and talented people of @ATVI_AB… They will join Team Xbox! do
All the details of the announcement here: https://t.co/hUSalyc4fG https://t.co/IOOHYKxbAH
— Xbox España (@Xbox_Spain) January 18, 2022
Activision Blizzard owns the popular video game sagas “Call of Duty”, “Warcraft”, “Diablo”, “Overwatch”, “Candy Crush”, “Tony Hawk”, “Crash Bandicoot” and “StarCraft”, among others. It has 10,000 employees and in 2020 net profits of 2,197 million (1,929 million euros) and a turnover of 8,086 million dollars (7,100 million euros) were recorded.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick will retain his post, although once the deal closes, the company will report directly to Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft’s video game division.
In recent months, Kotick has been under pressure after The Wall Street Journal published that the executive had been aware for years of the problems of sexual harassment of the company’s employees but without having informed the board of directors. .
Microsoft hopes to incorporate the Activision Blizzard catalog into its Game Pass subscription, which recently reached 25 million subscribers.
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