Microsoft released today, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022, that they will buy the game publisher for $68.7 billion. This is Microsoft's largest acquisition to date. The second largest acquisition in Microsoft history was LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. Activision shares rose to over 27% on the same day.
Activision had received a lot of bad feedback in recent months. Among other things, sexual abuse among the company's executives has been reported. In the meantime, many of them have been fired and investigations are being conducted.
Bobby Kotick will continue as CEO of Activision. However, he will be fired by the end of the deal, which Microsoft expects to be around 2023. However, the deal could fall through because the U.S. government wants to more aggressively review such large acquisitions. Thus, there is a risk that the deal will fail under regulatory scrutiny. If the deal does succeed, Activision will be a part of XBox, Microsoft said. Thus, game series such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo and many more can be exclusively available on XBox in the future.
