Microsoft’s extended shoot-out with global trustbusters may nearly be over. On Tuesday, the technology giant inched forward in its quest to seal its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard with a deal to sell most of the video-game publisher’s global streaming rights to French rival Ubisoft Entertainment. Hurdles remain, but if the move satisfies objections from British regulators, it points to a path for assuaging global concerns about big-tech dealmaking choking off nascent markets. The 19-month merger odyssey still isn’t over. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which blocked the tie-up in April, must now restart its investigation. The United States Federal

Activision Blizzard’s next game might be its highest-stakes one yet. The “Call of Duty” maker’s $69 billion sale to Microsoft is creeping toward the finish line, but might not make it there before a looming Tuesday deadline. If the company’s suitor needs more time, CEO Bobby Kotick might have negotiating leverage to seek better terms. A court loss for U.S. trustbusters means there will be no legal barriers to the deal closing in the United States at the end of the week. The Federal Trade Commission has appealed the decision, while its British counterparts might take longer for Microsoft to satisfy. The situation

If three video game companies walk into a room, how many will walk out? On Tuesday, software firm AppLovin made a $17.5 billion, unsolicited offer for Unity Software. That’s after Unity launched a deal to buy similar rival IronSource last month. There’s some strategic logic for both deals, but the timing isn’t great given how much stock prices have fallen. The best thing might be that AppLovin’s offer forces Unity to drop its bid for IronSource. In July, Unity, whose software is used to create 3D games, agreed to pay a 94% premium for IronSource, which helps video game developers monetize apps through advertising.

If Microsoft has kicked off the game of who could buy Activision Blizzard, Netflix could be a surprise winner. The software giant’s $69 billion bid for the maker of “Call of Duty” is likely to run into trouble in Washington, which opens up the fray to rival bidders – particularly those who covet video game assets, and don’t face Microsoft’s high risk of regulatory challenges. Microsoft agreed on Tuesday to pay Activision $95 per share in cash. That would be the Windows creator’s biggest deal ever. Yet investors are already telegraphing trouble ahead. Activision’s stock was trading at about a 15% discount

Shareholders of betting firm Scientific Games are feeling the letdown. The $9 billion firm run by Barry Cottle is offloading its lottery business to Brookfield for $6 billion. That’s not a terrible price, and an alternative plan to list in Australia saw valuation hopes trimmed back. Yet a 13% drop in Scientific Games’s shares suggests investors were hoping for a jackpot. The price Brookfield is paying, including earnouts if the business hits performance targets, comes in at around 13 times Scientific Games’s expectations for full-year adjusted EBITDA for the lottery business. That is roughly in line with the whole company’s enterprise value-to-forward EBITDA, according

The burgeoning U.S. online gambling industry is no stranger to bustups. Fox and Flutter Entertainment’s lawyers are wrangling over the valuation of their sports-betting business FanDuel. Caesars Entertainment’s takeover of joint-venture partner William Hill ended up in court. A new three-way tussle involving DraftKings, Britain’s Entain and MGM Resorts International may be just as acrimonious. Entain on Tuesday revealed that DraftKings had proposed a $22 billion takeover, with $5 billion in cash and the rest in shares. The deal hinges on BetMGM, the British company’s joint venture with the resorts-to-roulette group, which competes with DraftKings in America’s newly legalised online

Barry Diller is making a virtual bet on casinos. The chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp said on Monday his company bought a 12% stake in MGM Resorts International, calling it a “once in a decade” chance. That’s true if he can bring online expertise to the e-poker tables. With a minority stake, that’s no sure thing. The price gives him good odds. The media mastermind has done well calling booming markets just as they were taking off. He got into the online dating business in 2000, and online travel booking shortly after that. Online gambling is the next frontier. As casinos in

Over the past two years, retailers and conglomerates have been concerned about the Chinese trade war. As the new decade starts, however, a new threat has emerged as the coronavirus spread in China during its New Year holiday. The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency, as officials said the virus had killed more than 425 people and sickened nearly 20,000 as of the beginning of February. The vast majority of the cases have been located in China. Fear of economic disruption due to the virus has been weighing hard on global stock markets, the travel industry and

One of the seminal investing lessons reinforced by the events of 2019 was to not give chief executives free rein. Uber Technologies had taught that one already, but WeWork’s spectacular fall from grace this year really should have made it clear that an all-powerful CEO can wind up being a huge liability. Backers of online-gambling and -gaming company DraftKings, though, appear unconcerned. On Monday, three major investment firms which ought to know better, Capital Research and Management, Wellington Management and Franklin Templeton, led a $304 million investment in the outfit, which at the same time announced two other deals: a

Caesars Entertainment is in a high-stakes game with Carl Icahn. The activist has taken a nearly 10 percent stake in the casino operator and wants it to consider a sale. Even at Caesars’ apparent low valuation there’s no easy buyer, and its mediocre performance means it has no reason to sell in haste. A good first step would be to work with Icahn to select new leadership, and leave more drastic action until later. The owner of the casino once beloved of Frank Sinatra has had a rough few years. A private equity takeover by TPG and Apollo Global Management

Henry Kravis is doing an “emote routine.” His private-equity firm, KKR, has taken part in a $1.25 billion investment in Epic Games, the company behind “Fortnite,” the latest video-game craze. The investment values the company at some $15 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. Epic has shown free games can be lucrative. But the deal clocks in at what seems an over-enthusiastic price. “Fortnite” has taken over kids’ and teenagers’ devices and their parents’ living rooms. It is one of the first multiplayer online video games to be offered without a fee. The goal, much like in “The Hunger

Get ready to gamble: U.S. sports betting is going legit. The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the feds can’t stop states legalizing wagers on basketball and other games, ending a 1992 ban. It will push a black market into the light and give gaming firms, sports leagues and media outlets like ESPN a grab at a big revenue pot. The American Gaming Association estimates that more than $150 billion of sports wagers were made illegally in 2016. Figure 6 percent of the headline number ends up in the top line of gaming companies, according to research firm Eilers &