Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard passed another major milestone as the company’s shareholders voted to approve the purchase.
While Microsoft’s attempt to take over Activision Blizzard began in January of this year, the process took a sizable official step forward this week. Activision Blizzard’s collective shareholders haven’t officially given their seal of approval on the merger and kept the World of Warcraft studio out of Microsoft’s umbrella, but a vote this past Thursday has broken it down. remove that barrier.
Ever since Microsoft first announced that it would attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard, the process has been very smooth, despite the fact that the deal is likely to take some time to become official. completed. There will also be a number of other issues that must be checked for the Call of Duty company to officially come under the direction of Xbox president Phil Spencer. Shareholder voting is one of the important issues that cannot be ignored as Activision is a publicly traded company, even if it appears to be a form of voting.
The official approval of the Activision Blizzard deal by shareholders was announced after the recent shareholder meeting, more specifically the information added that the vast majority of voters were in favor of the deal. The official tally shows more than 98% of the vote in the affirmative, which is quite remarkable given that a large group of Activision shareholders sued back in February to try to block the takeover.
When announcing the results, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick hailed the vote as a sign that shareholders had confirmed their belief that when things are officially done, the deal will allow the company to create value. even better for its players. He added that the company will also be able to offer “even greater opportunities” to its employees. That comment comes as Kotick’s company is still dealing with the consequences of numerous allegations of misconduct by senior levels within Activision.
In fact, allegations of workplace misconduct played a big part in making Microsoft decide that the time was right to make an offer to buy the company. While the shareholder vote is another important step towards Activision Blizzard’s return to Microsoft’s control, the deal is not yet officially finalized. There is still talk that the FTC and perhaps the US Congress will scrutinize all the numbers in the deal.
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