Business leader says deal will help company weather recruitment and retention challenges
Activision Blizzard's talent pool is expected to benefit from the company's merger with tech giant Microsoft, said CEO Bobby Kotick, as he expressed hope that the acquisition will close by June 2023 amid probes from regulators.
Kotick, in a letter to employees, said being a part of Microsoft will help Activision Blizzard weather the challenges of recruitment and retention in the workplace.
"With increased competition globally from companies with huge talent pools and resources, becoming part of a company with access to talent around the world will help us fill the thousands of open positions we will have over the next few years," Kotick said. "We have been, and will be, in fierce competition to attract and retain the talent we need to create content that will meet the demands of our growing audiences. Being a part of Microsoft will help us better realize our ambitions and satisfy the high standards of our audiences."
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Microsoft first unveiled its plan to purchase the video game publisher in January, drawing concerns from other console makers who said the acquisition could negatively impact fair competition on popular video game titles.
Sony, maker of the PlayStation, aired its concern that they could potentially lose access to Activision's well-known video game Call of Duty. Microsoft, maker of Xbox, however, said that it would keep the game on the PlayStation even after the acquisition.
The European Union commenced a probe on the $69-billion deal, which if approved, could be the largest all-cash deal in the tech industry's history.
Kotick, in his letter to employees, addressed the probe from competition regulators and said the "process is moving along as we expected."
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"Because so many large global companies across the world are now competing in the nearly $200 billion dollar games industry, it's understandable that regulators are trying to better understand the games business," Kotick said.
Kotick said that they already received a greenlight from Brazil, which found that the merger will not harm competition.
"We will continue to cooperate with the European Commission where, in the countries they represent, we have many employees. We have been working closely with Microsoft to actively engage regulators in other key countries to answer their questions and provide them with information to assist with their review," Kotick said. "People from across our business units and functions have been involved in this regulatory work, and I want to thank each of you for your tireless work and commitment to completing this merger, which we continue to expect to close in Microsoft's current fiscal year ending June 2023."