Microsoft has officially closed its deal to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, marking Microsoft’s biggest acquisition of all time and one of the largest in the history of the business world across all sectors. The deal faced a good amount of regulatory pressure, as Microsoft faced scrutiny from government groups around the world. Key legal battles took place in the United States and the UK. Microsoft announced the deal in February 2022. The announcement of the deal closing came just hours after the UK’s CMA itself signed off, and this was the final regulatory hurdle that Microsoft needed to clear to close the deal.
Microsoft is paying Activision Blizzard $95 per share for the buyout. Microsoft’s previous biggest acquisition was LinkedIn, which it paid $26.2 billion to acquire in 2016. For comparison, Disney bought Lucasfilm and the Star Wars series for $4.05 billion.
As part of the buyout, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has resigned, effective immediately. Other high-ranking Activision Blizzard C-suite executives are leaving, too.