I was looking for ATVI to get down to the low 50's or possibly mid 40's for a reentry. I had it in my wifes rollover IRA from mid $40's and got out $98. I was waiting for one more drop, but nooooo, MSFT has to go and make an offer now instead of waiting for my buy point. Ok, morning piss fest over.
True, but well past my entry point, and I have a few other canidates with more potential at this point.
idk. It is a rather big gap. Option vol has dropped substantially but it doesn't indicate a sure thing. I guess an all cash deal isn't good enough anymore. Needs bitcoin sweetener. This combination is THE metaverse unless you want Facebook with Minecraft graphics.
Microsoft to Buy Activision Blizzard in All-Cash Deal Valued at $75 Billion Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is expected to leave the videogame heavyweight that has been roiled by claims of workplace misconduct Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty is one of the popular game franchises Microsoft would add to its portfolio. PHOTO: RICHARD B. LEVINE/LEVINE ROBERTS/ZUMA PRESS By , and Updated Jan. 18, 2022 1:21 pm ET PRINT TEXT 65 Microsoft Corp. MSFT -1.81% agreed to buy Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI +27.21% in an all-cash deal valued at about $75 billion, using its largest acquisition by far to grab a videogame heavyweight that has been roiled by claims of workplace misconduct. The deal, if completed, would sharply expand Microsoft’s already sizable videogame operation, adding a stable of popular game franchises including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush to Microsoft’s Xbox console business and its own games like Minecraft and Doom. Microsoft said the transaction would make it the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Japan’s Sony Group Corp. The deal is valued at $68.7 billion after adjusting for Activision’s net cash, Microsoft said. Share-price performanceSource: FactSetAs of Jan. 18, 2:55 p.m. ET MicrosoftActivisionBlizzardAug. 2021'22-50-40-30-20-100102030% An acquisition also would mark the latest and biggest move by Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella to reshape Microsoft through a string of deals that have helped make the world’s second-highest-valued company a powerhouse in business computing and a rising giant in videogames. The deal entails significant complications, too. Shares in Activision had been down nearly 30% since California regulators filed a lawsuit against the company in July alleging sexual harassment and gender pay disparity among the company’s roughly 10,000 employees. Activision shares surged nearly 38% in premarket trading Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported it was close to a deal with Microsoft, whose shares fell 1.6%. Bobby Kotick, Activision’s longtime CEO, is expected to leave after the deal closes, according to people familiar with those plans. Microsoft had said in its announcement Tuesday that Mr. Kotick “will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard,” and that after the deal closes “the Activision Blizzard business will report to Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer. ” But the companies have agreed that he will depart once the deal closes, the people said. In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Kotick didn’t specifically address his status after the deal closes, but said he has told Microsoft he will “always be available to ensure that we are going to have the very best integration.” Activision Blizzard has been under intense pressure from shareholders, business partners, and others over workplace misconduct allegations. PHOTO: BING GUAN/BLOOMBERG NEWS Since the California lawsuit, Activision, Mr. Kotick, and its board of directors have been under intense pressure from shareholders, business partners, and others over the misconduct allegations. Following a Wall Street Journal investigative article in November about Activision’s handling of workplace issues, nearly a fifth of Activision’s employees signed a petition calling for Mr. Kotick to resign, and Mr. Spencer told Microsoft employees the company was evaluating its relationship with Activision. Microsoft approached Activision about a deal in November, after the Journal’s article, people familiar with the matter said. A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on the timing of the acquisition and whether Mr. Kotick would be leaving the company after the deal closes. An Activision spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Activision has announced a number of changes in recent months that Mr. Kotick has said are intended to make it a welcoming and inclusive workplace, including a zero-tolerance harassment policy and an end to mandatory arbitration for harassment and discrimination claims. On Monday, the Journal reported that Activision had pushed out or disciplined more than 80 employees since July as part of efforts to address harassment and other misconduct allegations. “We see the progress that they’re making that was pretty fundamental to us deciding to go forward here,” Mr. Spencer said about Activision’s plans to address workplace issues. Microsoft's largest acquisitionsSource: DealogicNotes: Data as of Tuesday, by year announced; excluding debt and partial stakes. *Pending †Devices and services business††Joint venture $68.7 billion28.118.18.58.17.57.25.95.32.5Activision Blizzard*2022LinkedIn2016Nuance*2021Skype2011Zenimax Media2020GitHub2018Nokia†2013aQuantive2007Informatica††2015Mojang2014 The deal follows a boom in the videogame business during the pandemic. It also comes as Microsoft and other technology giants are jockeying for position amid major changes in the sector, including a shift toward cloud-based gaming and the rise of a virtual world known as the metaverse where people can play, work and shop across different platforms using digital avatars. Mr. Nadella’s Microsoft has shown an enormous appetite for acquisitions—but Activision is more than twice the size of its previous biggest deal. In that earlier purchase, Microsoft paid more than $26 billion for professional social network LinkedIn Corp. in 2016, pushing Microsoft into social media. Last year, Microsoft made what was then its second largest acquisition, shelling out $16 billion for artificial intelligence company Nuance Communications Inc. to help accelerate growth in the healthcare market. In making these giant acquisitions, Microsoft has been successful largely because it keeps its hands off new entities and provides support in additional funding and technology like Microsoft’s Azure cloud, said analysts. In July, Microsoft said that LinkedIn for the first time surpassed $10 billion in annual revenue. Microsoft has stumbled in some of its deal efforts, noticeable in the defeat in 2020 of its attempt at buying parts of short-video app TikTok from Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. At the time, TikTok faced a threatened ban in the U.S. by then-President Donald Trump over national-security concerns. Microsoft also engaged in unsuccessful talks to buy social networking company Pinterest and chat startup Discord Inc. The Metaverse Prompts High-Stakes Race for Big Tech YOU MAY ALSO LIKE UP NEXT 0:00 / 6:12 1:34 The Metaverse Prompts High-Stakes Race for Big Tech A tech industry battle is taking shape over the metaverse. WSJ tech reporter Meghan Bobrowsky explains the concept and why tech companies like Facebook, Roblox and Epic Games are investing billions to develop this digital space. Photo: Storyblocks After those deals fizzled, Microsoft decided to double down on investments into its gaming ambitions, one person familiar with Microsoft’s strategy said. Since taking over as CEO in 2014, Mr. Nadella has spent more than $10 billion to buy more than a dozen game studios, including the companies responsible for the Doom franchise and Minecraft. In October, at the Journal’s WSJ Tech Live conference, Mr. Spencer, the Microsoft gaming chief, said the company wasn’t slowing down on its gaming acquisition spree. “We’re always out there looking for people who we think would be a good match and teams that would be a good match with our strategy, so we’re definitely not done,” Mr. Spencer said. Microsoft’s gaming strategy increasingly is focused on growing its subscription business, called Game Pass, which for a monthly fee lets gamers have access to a catalog of games. In the past, Mr. Nadella has likened the Game Pass strategy to the “ Netflix for games.” Microsoft announced early last year that Game Pass had 18 million subscribers. With the Activision announcement on Tuesday, Microsoft said it now has 25 million subscribers. Microsoft on Tuesday said the deal would bolster its Game Pass portfolio, with plans to bring Activision games into the subscription service. With Activision, Microsoft said it would have 30 internal game development studies. The transaction has been approved by the boards of both companies, Microsoft said, and is expected to close by July 2023. Buying Activision would increase Microsoft’s videogame revenue by about half. Analysts estimate that Activision’s sales in 2021 totaled $8.7 billion, according to FactSet, while Microsoft reported $15.4 billion in gaming revenue for the fiscal year through June, accounting for about 9% of its total. THE JOURNAL. A Videogame Giant Confronts a Culture Crisis 00:00 Activision’s stock had been rising, amid the videogame industry’s pandemic surge, until the July lawsuit by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleged gender pay disparity and sexual harassment at the company. Activision has disputed the department’s allegations The company also has been under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Journal reported in September, with a specific focus on Mr. Kotick, who was separately subpoenaed along with other senior executives. Activision has said it is cooperating with the SEC. Activision also said in September it had agreed to settle a two-year-long probe of sexual harassment claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for $18 million. The settlement is pending a judge’s approval. The Journal’s investigative article in November, which cited interviews and internal documents, showed that Mr. Kotick didn’t inform the board of sexual misconduct allegations that he was aware of, including rape, against managers across the company. It also detailed misconduct allegations against Mr. Kotick, including when an assistant complained in 2006 that he had threatened in a voice mail to have her killed. Activision has said the Journal’s reporting gave a misleading view of the company and its CEO. Mr. Kotick has said he was transparent with his board, which issued a statement supporting him. An Activision spokeswoman has said that he wouldn’t have been informed of every report of misconduct and that Mr. Kotick regrets the alleged incident with his assistant. NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP Technology A weekly digest of tech reviews, headlines, columns and your questions answered by WSJ's Personal Tech gurus. SUBSCRIBE The Journal’s article Monday reported that Activision had collected 700 reports of employee concern over misconduct and other issues since July. A summary of the company’s personnel issues was prepared before the December holidays but Mr. Kotick held it back, believing it would make the company’s workplace problems seem bigger than is already known, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. An Activision spokeswoman disputed the 700 figure and said employee comments included statements on social media and ranges from benign workplace concerns to “a small number” of potentially serious assertions, which the company investigated. She said “the assertion regarding Mr. Kotick is untrue.” Microsoft itself has faced pressure from shareholders over its handling of sexual harassment allegations among its staff. Last week, the company said it plans to be more transparent on the subject, and that its board of directors would review its sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies and unveil a summary of the results of past investigations into how the company handled allegations against company executives, including co-founder Bill Gates. The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, last year said Microsoft board members pursued an investigation in 2019 into Mr. Gates’s prior romantic relationship with a female employee. Mr. Gates stepped down from the board in 2020. In the Journal article, a spokeswoman for Mr. Gates said the affair had ended amicably close to 20 years earlier, and that his decision to leave the board wasn’t related to any investigation. TROUBLE AT ACTIVISION BLIZZARD More coverage of the turmoil at the videogame company, selected by the editors Activision Pushes Out Dozens of Employees Over Workplace Misconduct (Jan. 17, 2022) Activision CEO Tells Colleagues He Would Consider Leaving if He Can’t Quickly Fix Problems (Nov. 21, 2021) Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Knew for Years About Sexual-Misconduct Allegations at Videogame Giant (Nov. 16, 2021) Activision Employees Demand CEO‘s Resignation (Nov. 16, 2021) SEC Is Investigating Activision Blizzard Over Workplace Practices, Disclosures (Sept. 20, 2021) Activision Blizzard Gender-Bias Suit Shows Videogame Culture Remains a Flashpoint (July 26, 2021) Write to Cara Lombardo at cara.lombardo@wsj.com, Kirsten Grind at kirsten.grind@wsj.com and Aaron Tilley at aaron.tilley@wsj.com
Back to the pre-deal price @$65 to start....a deal can fall apart. For around the same loss exposure, I replaced the shares with 10x Mar 18 85/95 call spreads, 60 days out @ 1.46. I think most are doing the 85/90. I really would have preferred this as a long term holding. Oh well, game on.
Well, deal can fall apart, but perceived value should stay. I had a small position and I doubled it today with avg px at $76. Let’s see what happens.
CEO Bobby Kotick's letter to Activision Blizzard employees is below: Team, Today is an incredibly exciting day. As we continue our journey to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment, we will eventually do so as part of Microsoft. I am certain that our incredible talent and extraordinary games combined with our shared commitment to the very best workplace will enable us to grow in an increasingly more competitive race for leadership as gaming through the metaverse evolves. How we got here and where we’re going When you reflect on what we’ve built together, we have so much to be proud of. For the last 31 years, we’ve continuously shaped gaming through our commitment to deliver joy, fun, and the thrill of accomplishment. We’ve transformed games into social experiences and enabled players to find purpose and meaning through the most engaging form of entertainment – our games. By doing so, we’ve created and entertained communities of hundreds of millions of players. Connecting these communities together is the next step. Facebook, Google, Tencent, NetEase, Amazon, Apple, Sony, Disney – and many more – have ambitions for their own gaming and metaverse initiatives. Established and emerging competitors see opportunity for virtual worlds filled with professionally produced content, user generated content and rich social connections. Our talent and our games are important components of the construction of a rich metaverse. We have always attracted the very best game makers and built the very best games, seizing opportunity with passion, inspiration, focus, and determination. A partnership to define the future As investments in cloud computing, AI and machine learning, data analytics, and user interface and experience capabilities are becoming more competitive, we believe this partnership will better enable our ambitions. In considering possible partners, all roads ultimately lead to Microsoft. Like us, they have been making games for a long time. Microsoft has already distributed games to hundreds of millions of the world’s computers and computing devices and has technologies and innovation that will support the next generation of games. Microsoft also will support our journey to further strengthen our culture. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, has been a passionate advocate for caring as the currency of leadership. Inspiring people through empathy is a powerful motivator, and one we embrace as we renew our resolve – and in the work we are now doing – to set a new standard for a welcoming and inclusive workplace culture. Importantly, Microsoft wants you – your talent, your creativity, and your dedication to each other. Activision Blizzard’s success throughout the years can be directly attributed to each of you. Microsoft recognizes the commitment to excellence and creative independence that sets us apart, and we anticipate minimal changes for our workforce following the close of the transaction. Microsoft’s diverse operations will give us access to valuable expertise, technology, and tools and provide even greater opportunities for learning and development. No organization’s culture, including ours, is without need for improvement, and thanks to your input, we are making strides in improving ours. My commitment is to continue evolving our culture so that come closing, Microsoft is acquiring an exemplary workplace. What’s next Transactions like these can take a long time to complete. Until we receive all the necessary regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions are satisfied, which we expect to be sometime in Microsoft’s fiscal 2023 year ending June 30, 2023, we will continue to operate completely autonomously. I will continue as our CEO with the same passion and enthusiasm I had when I began this amazing journey in 1991. Of course, this announcement will give rise to so many questions. We will host numerous forums and events to make certain we address your concerns. I am incredibly proud of this company, you, and the work we have done together. Now it’s on to our next chapter and the endless possibilities this transaction represents for us. I couldn’t be more appreciative of your efforts, focus, and the dedication to connecting the world through joy and fun. With gratitude, Bobby