British regulators ban cross-shareholdings between Microsoft, Activision Blizzard and their subsidiaries

CTOnews.com May 12 news, the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently issued a temporary injunction, requiring Microsoft and Activision Blizzard to acquire each other's shares in advance with the written consent of British regulators. In short, cross-shareholdings between Microsoft and Blizzard need to be approved by CMA.

CMA blocked Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard two weeks ago. If Microsoft can complete the acquisition, it can include call of Duty, Vanguard of Watch and World of Warcraft, greatly increasing its influence in the game field.

Regulators said they were concerned that the deal would lead to less innovation in the cloud gaming business and fewer choices for gamers.

CMA's temporary ban prohibits Microsoft and Activision Blizzard from buying each other's shares without CMA permission. Some operations prohibited by CTOnews.com with CMA are as follows:

Activision Blizzard is not allowed to invest in Microsoft Xbox Game Studio

Microsoft cannot invest in Activision Blizzard subsidiaries like King.