Microsoft chairman Brad Smith was unhappy with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last year after the regulator blocked Microsoft's giant Activision Blizzard's deal. Now that Microsoft has restructured its deal and won approval in the UK, Smith has kinder words for the CMA, describing the regulator as “tough and fair” in an interview with the BBC Radio 4 Today Program.
Smith originally criticized the CMA and said confidence in the UK had been “severely shaken” after the regulator moved to block Microsoft's $68.7 billion deal in April last year. He called it the “darkest day” for Microsoft in its four decades of work in Britain, and went a step further, saying that “the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business” than the United Kingdom.
“I certainly learned a lot personally,” Smith admitted yesterday on Radio 4. “I wouldn't necessarily move away from all the concerns I raised when I spoke in April, but I might choose slightly different words to make my point.”
The CMA forced Microsoft to restructure its deal with Activision Blizzard, giving up key cloud gaming rights in the UK and many other markets around the world. “The CMA maintained a strict standard and I respect that. In my opinion, it was tough and fair,” Smith added. “It pushed Microsoft to change the acquisition we had proposed for Activision Blizzard, to spin off certain rights that the CMA was concerned about regarding cloud gaming.”
While Smith changed his mind about his criticism of the CMA, the regulator was not very impressed with Microsoft's tactics. “Companies and their advisors should be in no doubt that the tactics employed by Microsoft are no way to engage with the CMA,” the CMA chief executive warned. Sara Cardell in October. “Microsoft had the opportunity to restructure during our initial investigation, but instead continued to insist on a package of measures that we told them simply would not work. Prolonging procedures in this way only means a waste of time and money.”
Microsoft's concession to the CMA allowed the deal to close in October, after months of regulatory scrutiny around the world. The Federal Trade Commission continues its case against the Microsoft deal in the US, with a decision on an appeal over the FTC v. Microsoft The case is expected to be heard soon by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The FTC is also moving forward with a separate administrative case against the Microsoft settlement that will begin shortly after the appeal decision unless the FTC drops its case entirely.
