UK regulator open to looking at Microsoft-Activision deal again

By Paul Sandle

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's antitrust regulator said it was open to Microsoft changing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard to address its concerns that blocked the deal in April, after a U.S. court ruled on Tuesday that the $69 billion deal could go ahead.

Microsoft responded by saying it was considering how the transaction might be modified to address concerns made by Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the first regulator to block the deal.

All sides said they had agreed to ask the British court due to hear Microsoft's appeal later this month to put it on hold while they worked on new proposals.

The deal to buy the "Call of Duty" maker is the largest ever for Microsoft and the biggest in videogame history.

The CMA became the first major antitrust regulator to block the deal in April, citing concerns about competition in the nascent cloud gaming market.

Both companies reacted furiously to the decision, with Microsoft saying it "had shaken confidence" in Britain as a destination for tech businesses.

The European Union gave it the green light shortly after Britain blocked it, when it accepted broadly the same commitments that the UK had rejected.

Britain's government said it had noted the decision.

"The CMA is an independent body responsible for investigating the impact of mergers and acquisitions," a spokesperson said.

A U.S. judge ruled on Tuesday that Microsoft could go ahead with the deal, rejecting antitrust enforcer FTC's request for a temporary stop.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle, writing by William James; Editing by Kate Holton)

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