Democrat Senators wants to block Microsoft and Activision Merger

[SG854]

Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker & Sheldon Whitehouse want's FTC to block Microsoft's $68.7 billion Activision merger.

 

[leon315]

She's just an opportunist and tries to ride this trendy wagon, makes me think she's looking for getting bribed...... ops lobbied!

 

[Viri]

Where the fuck were they when Disney was buying shit left and right? They should have blocked T-Mobile from buying Sprint! We went from 5 mobile carriers to 3 in less than 10 years.

 

[SG854]

Does Bernie Sanders have stock in Sony?

 

[Veho]

Where the fuck were they when Disney was buying shit left and right? They should have blocked T-Mobile from buying Sprint! We went from 5 mobile carriers to 3 in less than 10 years.

They tried?

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/02/12...tration-to-reject-sprint-t-mobile-merger.html

• A group of seven Democratic U.S. senators and independent Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday urged the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission to reject the proposed $26 billion merger between T-Mobile US and Sprint.
• The senators noted that the four largest wireless carriers including AT&T and Verizon Communications control 98 percent of the market. "Antitrust regulators around the world have consistently blocked four-to-three mergers in the mobile and telecommunications industry, and those who have allowed such mergers have lived to regret it," they wrote.

 

[yuyuyup]

Where the fuck were they when Disney was buying shit left and right? They should have blocked T-Mobile from buying Sprint! We went from 5 mobile carriers to 3 in less than 10 years.

They fought against those mergers, I'll look it up for proof if you insist

 

[KingVamp]

I do think she means well, but monopolies and misconduct are two different things. I think they should be tackled separately.

I thought they would get some push back, but I wasn't expecting this much.

 

[Viri]

They tried?

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/02/12...tration-to-reject-sprint-t-mobile-merger.html

They fought against those mergers, I'll look it up for proof if you insist

Good.

 

[Shubshub]

Not sure of the logic that the Conditions would get worse
When Microsoft would have gone in knowing about all these Lawsuits
Would be stupid to not be expected to do something about it

 

[Xzi]

Yeah I'm not following the logic here. ActiBlizzard's problems mostly come from the top down, and with the merger Microsoft can give the boot to all the upper-management shitheads like Bobby Kotick. Additionally, Activision-Blizzard games would be made available on more platforms rather than remaining exclusive to Bnet. Seems like the opposite of consolidating into a monopoly.

 

[BitMasterPlus]

With all the problems facing our country going on right now, these stupid cocksuckers choose this to focus on. Our tax money and public servants at work, people.

 

[Xzi]

With all the problems facing our country going on right now, these stupid cocksuckers choose this to focus on. Our tax money and public servants at work, people.

Failure to enforce anti-trust laws is a major problem in this country though, just not in this particular scenario. And the biggest hurdle to getting anything done remains the Senate where Republicans retain a majority thanks to Manchin and Sinema. The marijuana decriminalization bill that just passed the House is DOA in the Senate, for example.

 

[Dr_Faustus]

I think this is part of a bigger issue in which a team of old and conceptually out of touch politicians trying to step in to stop something because they cannot see the bigger picture other than "one big company eating another big company". Ignoring the fact that one of those companies has been falling apart for years now and without a form of acquisition to change the management and structure of the company it will not survive to see the next decade otherwise. Essentially blocking this acquisition is intentionally letting ActiBlizz and its employees suffer more in the long run all because its somehow better than letting MS become a bigger company.

Thats just ass backwards logic. Also with that speaking where are they at with a foreign company (Sony) buying out an American studio (Bungie) ? I guess that somehow is better?

 

[subcon959]

What an idiotic take. Microsoft is consistently one of the best employee-reviewed workplaces and would be ideal to sort out the problems at Activision.

 

[The Catboy]

I am ok with this. Microsoft is trying to make another monopoly and that needs to be stopped. Microsoft already has a history of anti-trust violations and I am not shocked they are trying this shit again in a different market.

 

[the_randomizer]

Could we not be in favor of monopolistic bullshit for a change? I don't see a downside to this happening.

 

[chrisrlink]

so uh where's sony in this? does foreign companies get special treatment?

 

[Xzi]

Could we not be in favor of monopolistic bullshit for a change? I don't see a downside to this happening.

In what sense would absorbing ActiBlizzard actually make Microsoft a monopoly though? They came in third in the console race last generation, and Valve is far more dominant in the PC gaming space than MS. Additionally, they've pledged to keep ActiBlizzard IPs multi-platform, just as Sony did with Bungie.

 

[chrisrlink]

Failure to enforce anti-trust laws is a major problem in this country though, just not in this particular scenario. And the biggest hurdle to getting anything done remains the Senate where Republicans retain a majority thanks to Manchin and Sinema. The marijuana decriminalization bill that just passed the House is DOA in the Senate, for example.

you do realize who funded this so called criminalization of weed in the first place big tobacco ofc even though studies repetivly show smoknig/chewing tobacco causes cancer and weed doesn't (just alt's the state of mind) I bet weeds medicianal benifets were known long before just 5 years ago when this whole medical weed thing started, pills poison your liver overtime it's fact and pretty sure big pharma embargoed the medical weed research for at least a decade prior

 

[Xzi]

you do realize who funded this so called criminalization of weed in the first place big tobacco ofc even though studies repetivly show smoknig/chewing tobacco causes cancer and weed doesn't (just alt's the state of mind) I bet weeds medicianal benifets were known long before just 5 years ago when this whole medical weed thing started, pills poison your liver overtime it's fact and pretty sure big pharma embargoed the medical weed research for at least a decade prior

Yeah and it's mostly the tobacco and alcohol industries funding the opposition to legalization now, as well. Probably a discussion for another thread, though.