British Antitrust Regulators Block Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

British antitrust regulators dealt a major setback to Microsoft’s plans to acquire the video game giant Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, blocking the proposed deal and handing a notable win to government enforcers around the world who want to rein in Big Tech. In deciding that Microsoft’s proposals to ensure the acquisition did not harm competition “failed to effectively address the concerns in the cloud gaming sector,” a nascent part of the gaming industry, the Competition and Markets Authority inflicted a possibly fatal blow to what would be the largest consumer tech acquisition since AOL bought Time Warner two decades ago.