Microsoft’s stance on the UK being an unfriendly environment for businesses due to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) earlier ruling on its Activision deal, seems to be all water under the bridge for the company.

Microsoft’s stance on the UK being an unfriendly environment for businesses due to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) earlier ruling on its Activision deal, seems to be all water under the bridge for the company.

Microsoft’s president Brad Smith’s days of deriding the CMA via proxy statements about the UK are now in the past as his new position is that “The CMA held to a tough standard, and I respect that. In my view it was tough and fair.”

Following an outright denial, leading to an appeal and a reversal decision because of a restructured deal, Microsoft was finally granted approval from the CMA on its bid for game publisher Activision Blizzard.

During its initial rejection of the deal, Smith had choice words when describing the environment, he believed the CMA was fostering as it denied the company its acquisition.

Fast forward nine months and one multibillion dollar acquisition approval, and Smith holds a much more introspective perception of the CMA as he admits to Radio4 in a follow up to his comments last year. “I wouldn’t step back necessarily from all of the concerns I raised when I talked way back in April, but I might choose slightly different words to make my point.”

#Microsoft #softens #stance #CMA #Activision #approval