Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Vivendi Gets EU Nod On Activision Acquisition

The European Commission said Wednesday that it has approved the proposed acquisition of Santa Monica-based online game publisher Activision by Viviendi S.A. of France. According to the EU, the Commission has concluded that the proposed transaction would not significantly impeded effective competition in Europe. In approving the deal, the EU cited Electronic Arts, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft as strong, effective competitors in the space. The acquisition of Activision by Vivendi--which was first announced in December of last year--is worth $18.9 billion, and will create a new firm called Activision Blizzard. Activision Blizzard will own the popular gaming titles Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, Tony Hawk, World of Warcraft, Crash Bandicoot, and many other popular game titles.

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