Posts Tagged: agree
Microsoft and UK regulators agree to pause legal fight to negotiate Activision acquisition
On the same day a US federal judge denied the Federal Trade Commission's request for a preliminary injunction to prevent Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard for $ 68.7 billion, the tech giant and the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said they have agreed to take a break from their legal battle to negotiate a compromise that could allow the deal to move forward.
"After today’s court decision in the US, our focus now turns back to the UK. While we ultimately disagree with the CMA’s concerns, we are considering how the transaction might be modified in order to address those concerns in a way that is acceptable to the CMA,” Microsoft President Brad Smith posted to Twitter. "In order to prioritize work on these proposals, Microsoft and Activision have agreed with the CMA that a stay of the litigation in the UK would be in the public interest and the parties have made a joint submission to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to this effect."
Our statement on the mutual request with the CMA for a pause of our appeal in the UK: pic.twitter.com/8Aky2IJjxS
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) July 11, 2023
The CMA said it would block Microsoft's bid to buy Activision Blizzard at the end of April. At the time, the regulator argued the deal would harm the nascent cloud-gaming market by creating a monopoly player in Microsoft. It added, if the acquisition were to move forward as planned, Microsoft would have an "incentive to withhold [Activision Blizzard] games from competitors and substantially weaken competition in this important growing market." Microsoft had planned to challenge the decision, with a preliminary hearing before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), the body that hears appeals on CMA decisions, set for July 28th. In a statement the regulator shared with The Verge, it said it was "ready to consider any proposals from Microsoft to restructure the transaction in a way that would address the concerns set out in our Final Report.” The CAT still needs to allow the two sides to negotiate, but the tribunal is more than likely to rubber stamp the request.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-and-uk-regulators-agree-to-pause-legal-fight-to-negotiate-activision-acquisition-165856989.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
US, Netherlands and Japan reportedly agree to limit China’s access to chipmaking equipment
The Biden administration has reportedly reached an agreement with the Netherlands and Japan to restrict China’s access to advanced chipmaking machinery. According to Bloomberg, officials from the two countries agreed on Friday to adopt some of the same export controls the US has used over the last year to prevent companies like NVIDIA from selling their latest technologies in China. The agreement would reportedly see export controls imposed on companies that produce lithography systems, including ASML and Nikon.
Bloomberg reports the US, Netherlands and Japan don’t plan to announce the agreement publicly. Moreover, implementation could take “months” while the countries work to hammer out the legal details. “Talks are ongoing, for a long time already, but we don’t communicate about this. And if something would come out of this, it is questionable if this will be made very visible,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Friday, responding to a question about the negotiations.
According to Bloomberg, the agreement will cover “at least” some of ASML’s immersion lithography machines. As of last year, ASML was the only company in the world producing the extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines chipmakers need to make the 5nm and 3nm semiconductors that power the latest smartphones and computers. Cutting off China from ASML’s products is an effort by the Biden administration to freeze the country’s domestic chip industry. Last summer, Chinese state media reported that SMIC, China’s leading semiconductor manufacturer, had begun volume production of 14nm chips and had successfully started making 7nm silicon without access to foreign chip-making equipment. China has said SMIC is working on making 5nm semiconductors, but it’s unclear how the company will do that without access to EUV machines.
New York lawmakers agree to pause use of facial recognition in schools
New York lawmakers have passed a moratorium that would ban the use of facial recognition in schools until 2022. Their decision comes a month after the New York Civil Liberties Union sued the State Education Department for approving Lockport City Scho…
Engadget RSS Feed
Samsung and Oath agree to deal to put apps on Verizon phones
Oath Inc., the digital content subsidiary of Verizon as announced a deal to pre-load several apps on the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ purchased through Verizon. Eventually other Samsung devices sold through Verizon will likely see the same treatment. The initial apps included in the announcement include Newsroom, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, and Go90, […]
Come comment on this article: Samsung and Oath agree to deal to put apps on Verizon phones