A profile of Sarah Cardell, the UK CMA's Chief Executive, who played a key role in shaping the policy that led to Microsoft's Activision takeover being blocked

Former corporate lawyer has attracted the ire of the US group by blocking its $75bn acquisition of Activision

Financial Times 2023-04-28

Context & Ripple Effects

The CMA’s block put the UK regulator at the center of a transaction Microsoft expected to clear across major markets, prompting Microsoft to appeal and publicly attack the decision. The episode made the agency’s merger-policy leadership, including Cardell’s role, consequential for a global technology deal.

The initial prohibition did not end the process: the CMA later reopened consultation on a revised transaction, and subsequent coverage describes how the UK’s stance forced a restructuring before approval. That sequence illustrates the practical leverage a national regulator can exert over a cross-border platform acquisition.

First-order effects

Microsoft and Activision face a halted UK transaction path, with the CMA’s competition and innovation concerns becoming the immediate constraint on closing.
Cardell and the CMA become the focal point of Microsoft’s challenge to the decision, raising the stakes for the regulator’s policy rationale and enforcement credibility.

Second-order effects

Microsoft must weigh an appeal, changes to the transaction, or commitments that address the CMA’s concerns; the later revised deal process shows that UK remedies can shape the global structure of a merger.
Other large technology acquirers have a clearer incentive to treat the CMA as an early deal-design constraint rather than assume alignment with US or EU outcomes.

Third-order effects

If this enforcement posture persists, UK merger review can remain a distinct source of negotiating power in global platform consolidation, even where other jurisdictions take different views.
The eventual reversal following a revised structure suggests the durable shift is not necessarily more outright prohibitions, but more regulator-driven transaction design and longer closing paths.

The trend: Large technology mergers are increasingly being determined by jurisdiction-specific remedies and regulatory leverage rather than a single global approval outcome.

Discussion

Gameranx Ryan Parreno on x
CMA Completely Misunderstands This Provision In Microsoft's Cloud Gaming Contracts
Gameranx Ryan Parreno on x
FTC Confirms Kotick's Claim Lina Khan Met With CMA Before Activision Decision
Pure Xbox Liam Doolan on x
Nvidia: Xbox's Acquisition Of ActiBlizz Would Be ‘A Benefit To Cloud Gaming’
@nvidiagfn @nvidiagfn on x
GeForce NOW and other cloud gaming providers stand to gain an even deeper catalog of games if Microsoft's acquisition of Activision is completed. We see this as a benefit to cloud gaming and hope for a positive resolution.
@boosteroid_main @boosteroid_main on x
Boosteroid team and our users disagree with the CMA's decision against Microsoft's purchase of Activision. Our position on this issue is in line with that of Microsoft's president, Brad Smith. We hope for a quick resolution to this question. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@ingridlunden Ingrid on x
Microsoft/Activision's darkly threatening response to the CMA quashing their deal is the ugly child of US entitlement and the US attitude of swinging for the fences (nothing to lose). The CMA did its job.
@gameoverthirty @gameoverthirty on x
On day one I said, “The regulators don't understand the video game market and that's going to be a problem.” What you're seeing from people responding to this (now) is the same sentiment. Unfortunately, I called it. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@deeketweak Derek Strickland on x
How is it a good idea to say these kinds of things about regulators when you're trying to get a merger approved? Taken from CNBC interview with $ATVI CEO Bobby Kotick: https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@fosspatents Florian Mueller on x
Nvidia is right about this. To be fair, Nvidia wanted to acquire semiconductor design company Arm (UK-based, but belonging to Japan's Softbank at the time) and that deal got blocked. There was resistance in various places, not just by the CMA. And that was a UK company unlike ABK…
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
Nvidia also backing Microsoft on the CMA's decision. Microsoft had signed a 10-year deal with Nvidia to bring Call of Duty and other Activision games to GeForce Now if the deal closed https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@idlesloth84_ @idlesloth84_ on x
According to Kotick, Lina Khan met with CMA head a week ands half ago before the verdict Kotick Well, I was surprised to learn that Lina Khan and the head of the CMA had a meeting a week and a half ago in Washington. You know, legally you're not supposed https://www.cnbc.com/... …
@charlesfitz Charles Fitzgerald on x
Time travel as an antitrust tool https://www.techmeme.com/...
@cmagovuk @cmagovuk on x
If Microsoft were to buy Activision, that position would only become stronger, reducing competition in cloud gaming, and affecting how the market develops. 📉
@cmagovuk @cmagovuk on x
Cloud gaming can help existing and new #gamers access their favourite games without the need for an expensive #console or gaming PC in the future. 🎮
@fosspatents Florian Mueller on x
@stephentotilo @michaelpachter Provisional Findings Report, para. 8.66: “we consider that there is a UK market for cloud gaming services, primarily because not every provider is present in the UK and there are price differences between different countries. From a supply-side pers…
@cmagovuk @cmagovuk on x
The cloud #gaming market is growing rapidly, with the average number of UK cloud gamers tripling between 2021 and 2022. This growth is expected to continue. 📈 https://twitter.com/...
@deeketweak Derek Strickland on x
It appears that multiple video games companies told the CMA that the merger would “seriously harm competition” and that Microsoft's proposed 10-year deals were not sufficient behavioral remedies. https://twitter.com/...
@hazzadorgamin @hazzadorgamin on x
Cloud streaming service Boosteroid Disagrees with the CMA decision to block Microsoft's Activision acquisition. Boosteroid signed a 10 year deal to bring PC Xbox/Actvision games to the platform, if the deal passed. https://twitter.com/...
@zoidctf Zoid Kirsch on x
Stadia died so the UK based CMA could block the Microsoft Activision merger. I've never seen such an out of touch decision making. Cloud gaming!?
@gameoverthirty @gameoverthirty on x
1/ This is another example of the UK CMA stating something to make it true, even though it's clearly not. #ActivisionBlizzard has stated they have no incentive to place their games on cloud for a multitude of reasons. They would only do so under MSFT (carrying the burden). https:…
@deeketweak Derek Strickland on x
This is really interesting. CMA finds that Activision would eventually bring its games to cloud services given that cloud is seen to be an important growth sector for the industry. https://twitter.com/...
@cecianasta Cecilia D'Anastasio on x
New (analysis): The great majority of people I've talked to today were shocked by the CMA's decision to block the Microsoft/Activision deal. Some questioned whether the CMA “gets” the cloud gaming market they say Microsoft could potentially dominate. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@cecianasta Cecilia D'Anastasio on x
Analysts were surprised by the CMA's decision, with many saying regulators were comparing apples to oranges re: cloud gaming services. However, the CMA takes a wide view of what cloud gaming is: content, software, data centers, distribution, hardware. https://www.bloomberg.com/..…
@senninsage SenjutsuSage Hi-Fi Rush on x
It's hilarious how the CMA went from thinking that Microsoft would make all Activision content, especially Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox Cloud Gaming services. They were concerned about availability strictly. Microsoft gives them countless deals guaranteeing that. They say? No.
@projektxbox10 @projektxbox10 on x
From the cma report...even they admit that the cloud market is in its infancy and have no solid data....this is going to get obliterated by CAT https://twitter.com/...
@jezcorden @jezcorden on x
CMA: “We did this to protect cloud providers.” Cloud providers: “uh .... ” https://twitter.com/...
@senninsage SenjutsuSage Hi-Fi Rush on x
Every last one of these reasons are so weak.. The CMA itself said BYOG cloud gaming services and MGS cloud gaming services were a direct competitor to cloud gaming as part of a multi-game subscription service. CMA has a credibility problem here. This is what they said in Feb http…
@jezcorden @jezcorden on x
The UK CMA says that it wants to protect the “growing” cloud market, so why won't it let the major cloud players invest in its growth and viability? https://www.windowscentral.com/ ...
@cmagovuk @cmagovuk on x
📄 The evidence available to the CMA showed that Microsoft would find it commercially beneficial to make #Activision's games exclusive to its own cloud gaming service, making it harder for other platforms to compete.
@fosspatents Florian Mueller on x
This here is one way of looking at it. Whatever drove the CMA's decision, it's not based in fact or law. If the appeals court didn't overrule such an outrageous decision, the damage to the UK economy would be enormous. Who wants to be at the mercy of crazy regulatory overreach? h…
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
i have no opinion on whether this deal should have been blocked or not but using “a potential monopoly in cloud gaming” as a stumbling block is funny who the fuck is cloud gaming??? https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@peterovo5 PeterOvo on x
The CMA has said that if Microsoft make Activision Blizzard games exclusive to it's cloud platform it will make it difficult for others to compete If the CMA is concerned about exclusives, what are they doing about PlayStation, Nintendo & Xbox exclusives? Just ban exclusives http…
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
I said back in September that CoD concerns were just noise and that the larger regulator concerns would be Microsoft's leverage of Windows and Azure for game distribution in the future. And here's the CMA today on Microsoft's recent cloud gaming deals: https://twitter.com/... htt…
@wario64 @wario64 on x
CMA blocks Microsoft/Activision Blizzard acquisition “over concerns the deal would alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market, leading to reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come.” https://www.gov.uk/... https://twitter.com/...
@s8mb @s8mb on x
The effect the CMA has on the wider British economy is becoming difficult to ignore. Decisions like this and blocking the FB/Giphy deal will undermine everything else we could try to do to make the UK a centre for tech startups and investment. https://www.gov.uk/...

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