Microsoft's acquisition of game publisher Activision Blizzard faces antitrust scrutiny in the U.K., where competition regulators said Wednesday they've opened an initial inquiry into the $69 billion deal.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has started looking into whether the tie-up would result "in a substantial lessening of competition" in the United Kingdom.
The U.S. tech giant announced in January that it was buying Activision Blizzard in a deal that would make it a bigger video game company than Nintendo but raised questions about its anti-competitive effects.
Microsoft makes the Xbox gaming system while Activision has created or acquired popular video games including Guitar Hero and the World of Warcraft franchise.
Microsoft said it expected the scrutiny and thought it appropriate for regulators to take a closer look at the deal.
"We have been clear about how we plan to run our gaming business and why we believe the deal will benefit gamers, developers, and the industry," Microsoft's corporate vice president and general counsel, Liz Tanzi, said in a prepared statement. "We're committed to answering questions from regulators and ultimately believe a thorough review will help the deal close with broad confidence, and that it will be positive for competition."
The U.K. watchdog will seek feedback on the acquisition from interested parties until July 20 and decide by Sept. 1 whether to escalate its investigation.
Tanzi said the company is confident the deal will close as expected in its 2023 fiscal year, which started in July.
The Competition and Markets Authority has a track record of scrutinizing, and sometimes preventing, big tech mergers and acquisitions.
The watchdog cleared Microsoft's $16 billion deal to buy speech recognition company Nuance but blocked Facebook's acquisition of the GIF-sharing platform Giphy and ordered the deal unwound, saying it hurt social media users and advertisers by stifling competition for animated images.
Pamela Anderson takes a bow at TIFF for Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl”
The Toronto International Film Festival has played host to many comeback stories over the years. Brendan Fraser was cheered here two years ago for his performance in "The Whale." This year's unlikely comeback story might be Pamela Anderson.
On Friday, Gia Coppola premiered her film "The Last Showgirl," an indie drama starring Anderson as an aging Las Vegas showgirl. Shelley (Anderson) is the long-running star of casino dance show of scantily clad, feather-adorned women that has seen better days. With attendance dwindling, the show's stage manager (Dave Bautista) announces they will soon give their last performance, leaving Shelley — who believes sincerely in the show — pondering her choices.
The film, which is for sale in Toronto, drew mixed reviews but warm applause for the 57-year-old Anderson.
"I've been getting ready my whole life for this role," Anderson told the crowd at the Princess of Wales Theatre following the premiere.
For Anderson, whose most notable credits include "Baywatch" and "Borat," the festival acclaim was a novel experience. Even just getting a script like "The Last Showgirl" was something new for her.
"It's the first time I've read a good script, first of all. I've never had a script come to me that was coherent," said Anderson. "I was like: I'm the only one that can do this. I've never felt that strongly about something."
"The Last Showgirl" extends a run of good fortune for the former Playboy Playmate that includes her 2023 memoir "Love, Pamela" and the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary "Pamela, A Love Story." It also shares some of the same themes as another TIFF entry, the body horror film "The Substance." That film, starring Demi Moore, likewise grapples with agism for female... Read More