XM does not provide services to residents of the United States of America.

Microsoft says UK regulator an 'outlier' for blocking Activision deal



<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>UPDATE 1-Microsoft says UK regulator an 'outlier' for blocking Activision deal</title></head><body>

Adds detail about timing of hearing in paragraph 3, Activision's intervention paragraphs 10-13

By Sam Tobin and Paul Sandle

LONDON, May 30 (Reuters) -Microsoft MSFT.O on Tuesday accused Britain's anti-trust regulator of being a global "outlier" in blocking its $69 billion takeover of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard ATVI.O.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) vetoed the deal in April, saying it could hurt competition in the nascent cloud gaming market, sparking a furious row.

The company's appeal against the decision is likely to be heard in late July, a judge at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) indicated on Tuesday.

Microsoft's lawyer Daniel Beard told the CAT: "If this process does not move forward quickly, it jeopardises this merger being completed."

Microsoft argues the CMA was wrong to conclude the deal would lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the United Kingdom's cloud gaming market.

He said that 10 regulators – including the European Union's competition authority, which gave the deal the go-ahead earlier this month – have already approved the merger.

"The CMA is the outlier here in its position," Beard said. "It creates the uncertainty that risks derailing this deal and it is for that reason that speed is of the essence."

He added: "It is only here that we have this uncertainty in terms of there being a decision which we say is fundamentally wrong and purports to stop this merger worldwide in relation to a tiny part of the gaming industry."

Microsoft has also appealed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's action seeking to block the deal on the grounds that, the agency said, it would suppress competition.

Activision has applied to intervene in Microsoft's appeal against the CMA's decision, saying that the planned deal has a "drop dead" date of July 18.

Its lawyer Anthony Grabiner said the CMA's conclusion that cloud gaming was a separate market from so-called native gaming, where gamers access games installed on their devices through a digital download or physical disc, was wrong.

Cloud gaming is "nothing more than simply a delivery mechanism ... it is not a separate market", he said.

"From a UK plc perspective, it is a terribly important case," Grabiner added.



Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Kate Holton and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

</body></html>

Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.

All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.

Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.

Risk Warning: Your capital is at risk. Leveraged products may not be suitable for everyone. Please consider our Risk Disclosure.