Microsoft announced Tuesday that it has reached a deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, the video game company behind such major hits as “Call of Duty” and “Warcraft,” for nearly $70 billion, creating a juggernaut in the gaming space.
The Washington-based software giant will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion, the company said.
The mega-deal dramatically eclipses the previous record for largest gaming acquisition of all time, when “Grand Theft Auto” publisher Take-Two Interactive acquired “FarmVille” maker Zynga for $12.7 billion earlier this year. The move would make Microsoft the third-largest gaming company in the world by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony.
“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft, said in a statement. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”
“Players everywhere love Activision Blizzard games, and we believe the creative teams have their best work in front of them,” Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming, said. “Together we will build a future where people can play the games they want, virtually anywhere they want.”
Bobby Kotick, the current CEO of Activision Blizzard, will remain with the company as part of the deal.
“For more than 30 years our incredibly talented teams have created some of the most successful games,” Kotick said. “The combination of Activision Blizzard’s world-class talent and extraordinary franchises with Microsoft’s technology, distribution, access to talent, ambitious vision and shared commitment to gaming and inclusion will help ensure our continued success in an increasingly competitive industry.”
News of the acquisition comes as Activision Blizzard has been the subject of claims of workplace misconduct in recent months.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Activision Blizzard has fired or pushed out more than three dozen employees and disciplined more than 40 others as part of its investigation into sexual harassment and other misconduct at the company.
The company denied that Kotick held back a summary of those personnel actions which was scheduled to be released before the winter holidays, calling it “untrue.”
More than 1,000 employees of the company signed a petition calling for Kotick to resign after the Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report alleging that the CEO was aware of the misconduct claims but did not inform the company’s board of directors. The company has disputed the report as “a misleading view of Activision Blizzard and our CEO.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Activision Blizzard over “disclosures regarding employment matters and related issues,” the company said last year.
