Tag: eu
EU Commission OKs Microsoft’s $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard
The EU Commission today announced its approval of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of gaming studio Activision Blizzard, a month after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ruled against the deal.
While the Commission said it was reassured that the commitments offered by Microsoft “fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission,” the approval is conditional on full compliance with the commitments. An independent trustee under supervision of the Commission will be in charge of monitoring their implementation.
“As always, the Commission has based its decision on hard evidence, and on extensive information and feedback from competitors and customers, including from game developers and distributors as well as cloud game streaming platforms in the EU,” a statement on the Commission’s website read.
Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition has been approved by EU regulators
Microsoft’s proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard just received some good news. The European Commission have today approved the $70 billion acquisition, saying that Microsoft’s commitments “represent a significant improvement for cloud gaming.” That’s a markedly different tone to the UK’s conclusion last month, as the British regulator blocked the acquisition over concerns about the cloud market’s future.
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EU Crypto Tax Plans Include NFTs, Foreign Companies, Draft Text Shows
The bill, dated May 5, closely matches proposals made by the European Commission in December 2022, as part of a bid to stop EU residents stashing crypto abroad to hide it from the taxman. The commission would have to set up a register of crypto asset operators’ by December 2025, bringing forward a previous deadline by one year, and the rules will apply as of Jan. 1, 2026. Controversially, the law — known as the eighth directive on administrative cooperation (DAC8) — still includes platforms for trading non-fungible tokens that can be used for payment or investment, and providers from outside the bloc that have EU clients.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.