Nvidia Secures $500 Billion AI Infrastructure Push With Wall Street Giants 
U.S. Pressures Nations to Choose Sides in AI Race 
ANZ Home Loan Applications Drop 12% After Australia Property Tax Changes 
Super Micro Stock Jumps 19% as AI Server Demand Drives Strong 2027 Outlook 
Alphabet’s SpaceX Investment Soars 100-Fold to $94 Billion 
Paramount Weighs CNN Sale as $110B Warner Bros. Discovery Deal Faces Antitrust Fight 
Trump Media Says Truth API Draws 10+ Customers as Conflict Concerns Grow 
SMIC Shares Rally as Q2 Profit Surges 262% on Strong Chip Demand 
Alphabet Shifts AI Strategy Toward Commercial Growth, Goldman Sachs Says 
Anthropic Eyes $6B Decart AI Acquisition Ahead of Mega IPO 
Stripe, Advent Reportedly Pursue $53 Billion PayPal Takeover 
Micron Stock Upgraded to Buy as New Street Sees $2 Trillion Valuation Potential 
J.P. Morgan Upgrades SanDisk, Sets $2,250 Price Target on AI NAND Growth 
Antofagasta Shares Drop 5% as Miner Cuts 2026 Copper Production Forecast 
Nvidia Seen Beating Q2 Targets as Vera Rubin Cycle Begins 
Goldman Sachs Eyes Investors for Nvidia’s $500 Billion AI Financing Plan 
LG, Nvidia Expand AI Partnership With Humanoid Robots, AI Factories 
Add as a preferred source on Google
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of the United Kingdom confirmed it is moving forward with a more in-depth investigation of Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition. Sony has responded, praising the regulator’s decision.
The CMA announced on Thursday that it has referred the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal for an in-depth investigation, which the regulator calls a Phase 2 inquiry.
UK’s market competition watchdog released its initial findings last Sept. 1, saying the $68.7 billion deal could lead to a “substantial lessening of competition.” According to CMA’s rules, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard would have to present remedies within five working days to prove that their deal will not negatively impact the video game market in the UK.
In its reference decision published on Thursday, the CMA said it was informed last Sept. 6 that Microsoft chose not to provide remedies to the regulator’s concerns. This corroborated a report from the Financial Times with sources that claimed Microsoft did not expect the CMA to accept any commitments that would have prevented a Phase 2 inquiry. Per the timetable CMA posted, the in-depth investigation could run through March 2023.
Sony, one of the companies most vocal about the acquisition, praised the CMA for its decision. "By giving Microsoft control of Activision games like ‘Call of Duty,’ this deal would have major negative implications for gamers and the future of the gaming industry," the company told GamesIndustry.biz. "We want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality gaming experience, and we appreciate the CMA’s focus on protecting gamers."
Microsoft has previously said it will not be profitable for it to stop selling “Call of Duty” games on PlayStation. The Xbox parent company reiterated this argument in a statement to the same publication while pointing out PlayStation’s leading position in the gaming console market.
Sony issued its final PS4 hardware sales report last month, indicating that the company sold more than 117 million units of the last-generation console. A few days later, Game Luster learned that Microsoft admitted to Brazil’s competition authority that PS4 units sold were “sold more than twice” the Xbox One sales.
Photo by Gage Skidmore from Flickr under Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
