Microsoft Corp. completed its $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc. after a nearly two-year fight with global regulators threatened to scuttle the deal.
The biggest-ever acquisition in the video game industry gives the maker of Xbox consoles a more formidable position against rivals, vaulting it from fifth to third place globally, behind Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Sony Group Corp. The acquisition is a stunning turnaround after Microsoft executives underestimated the magnitude and longevity of antitrust objections, forcing the software giant to seek a three-month extension of the deal’s expiration period from Activision.
Shares of Microsoft rose 0.2% at 9:38 a.m. in New York.
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