Brad Smith

 Microsoft president Brad Smith has softened his stance on the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) following the completion of the Activision Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft.

Microsoft on Sunday announced four billion euros in investment for developing data centres in France, joining fellow US giant Amazon in committing to the country's tech infrastructure.

Expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) push, Microsoft has announced that it will be investing $1.5 billion in United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence firm G42, giving the U.S. giant a minority stake and a board seat, allowing the two to deepen ties amid the global battle for tech dominance. AI has become the buzzword of the last few years, with companies around the world competing to leverage this technology.

AI roundup: Microsoft is planning to make a huge investment in Japan to accelerate the country's AI development. Additionally, the investment will also aid Japan in building strong cybersecurity defence to combat enemy countries. In other news, President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged Amazon and Nvidia to fund an AI research program. Know more about such AI news of today. 

eAlphabet's Google Cloud on Monday ramped up its criticism of Microsoft's cloud computing practices, saying its rival is seeking a monopoly that would harm the development of emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence.

MWC 2024: The world's largest mobile phone fair, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023, kicks off in Barcelona with a sharp focus on leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to rejuvenate the smartphone industry amid declining sales. With 95,000 attendees and 2,400 exhibitors expected, the event aims to showcase the AI-powered innovations shaping the future of mobile technology.

UAE backs Sam Altman's vision, aims to lead the world on AI regulation; IBM report reveals 59% of Indian enterprises actively using AI; Microsoft pledges $3.44 billion investment in Germany, focusing on AI boost; Google unveils internal AI 'Goose' to accelerate employee coding efficiency- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

Microsoft Corp. executive Dee Templeton has joined OpenAI's board as a nonvoting observer, according to a person familiar with the matter, as part of a broader boardroom overhaul following the brief ouster of the startup's chief executive officer (CEO) Sam Altman. Templeton has worked at Microsoft for more than 25 years and is the company's vice president for technology and research partnerships and operations, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has already begun attending board meetings, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters. OpenAI and Microsoft declined to comment. 

One constant of the last year's worth of news swirling aroundMicrosoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard was the back-and-forth bickering between the tech giant and the UK's Competition and Markets Authority as the deal headed to a close. Now, Microsoft's Brad Smith seems to have softened his tone a bit regarding the CMA.

Microsoft President Brad Smith has softened his stance on the UK regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, following the Microsoft – Activision deal.

Microsoft president Brad Smith has seemingly walked back on comments criticising the UK over the handling of its Activision Blizzard deal.

Microsoft president Brad Smith has changed his tone somewhat towards UK regulatory body the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), admitting its initial plan to block the company's Activision Blizzard buyout was «tough and fair».

While Microsoft has now officially acquired Activision Blizzard, the company had to restructure the deal to win the approval of the UK's Competition and Markets Authority regulator, which originally found the deal concerning for a variety of reasons. Microsoft's president, Brad Smith, wasn't happy about the original verdict, meeting it with some harsh words, but it seems like things have changed since, now that the deal has finally gone through.

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

 With global regulators examining Microsoft Corp.'s $13 billion investment in OpenAI, the software giant has a simple argument it hopes will resonate with antitrust officials: It doesn't own a traditional stake in the buzzy startup so can't be said to control it.

Today is the last day of November and as the end of the year festivities appear near the horizon, the artificial intelligence space is still hard at work. In the first news today, Voicemod, a popular AI voice changer app available on PC and Mac, has received a new update that will allow users to create new voices from scratch. In other news, Microsoft President Brad Smith addressed the rumors about OpenAI making a breakthrough toward AGI and said that there is no probability that we will see AGI anytime soon. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

Microsoft’s buyout of Activision Blizzard is meant to bring about big changes to the franchise, but will Call of Duty ever come to the Nintendo Switch?

Rishi Sunak plans to hold a live-streamed conversation with Elon Musk after his AI summit wraps up Thursday, lending some star power to an event that the British prime minister hopes could shape regulation of the emerging technology. 

President Joe Biden is directing the US government to take a sweeping approach to artificial intelligence regulation, his most significant action yet to rein in an emerging technology that has sparked both concern and acclaim. The lengthy executive order, released on Monday, sets new standards on security and privacy protections for AI, with far-reaching impacts on companies. Developers such as Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc.'s Google will be directed to put powerful AI models through safety tests and submit results to the government before their public release. 

AI Roundup: Morgan Stanley analysts predict that the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) could prove to be beneficial for Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation. In a separate development, Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma announced plans to invest Rs. 300 crore in India's AI and electric vehicle sectors through the VSS Investments Fund. Moreover, Canva introduced AI-powered K-12 education products as part of its Canva for Education platform.

With the lengthy process of regulatory approval over, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard King is now a done deal. Following the deal’s closure and first steps, Microsoft Vice Chair & President Brad Smith released a blog reiterating the company's2022 agreement to labor neutrality that the company came to with the Communication Workers of America year. That agreement is set to go into effect 60 days after the acquisition deal closed.

US union the Communication Workers of America (CWA) has celebrated Microsoft's massive acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Microsoft has confirmed it will honour its labour neutrality agreement with the Communications Workers of America following its historical acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Update: Well, there we go. Microsoft has wasted no time, and has officially concluded the transaction to acquire Activision Blizzard King. The announcement comes via Xbox Wire, where Phil Spencer writes about this historic merger. Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard King, will remain in place for at least the rest of 2023.

The UK’s Competition Markets Authority (CMA) has given the go-ahead for Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, accepting the tech giant’s modified deal and how it addresses concerns over cloud gaming competition. Microsoft could complete the deal within the next few days.

Microsoft has beencleared to acquire Activision Blizzard by UK regulators, removing the last hurdle standing in the way of closing the deal.

The last hurdle in ‘s acquisition of has been cleared as the UK regulator approves the deal after a period of consultation on the deal.

And just like that, our shared 21-month slog is over. Long live our new, possibly lifelong slog. In a press release today, titled «Microsoft concession a gamechanger that will promote competition,» the UK's Competition and Market Authority (CMA) has announced that it's approving Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, reversing its April decision to block the deal and clearing the way for the deal to close in the very near future.

After many months of legal wrangling, bizarre streaming deals with EE and console fanboys at each other's throats, the CMA has finally approved Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King in the UK — with the Xbox parent company overcoming the «final regulatory hurdle».

Microsoft’s revised deal to acquire Activision Blizzard has now been cleared by the UK’s Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA).

Microsoft and Activision leadership have now chimed in with their responses to CMA’s approval of their merger acquisition deal.

The United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority has officially granted their consent to the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, following a short consultation period regarding a restructured deal which would divest cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft. With this decision, the merger is expected to officially close this Friday morning around 9 am Eastern Time, 21 month after its initial announcement.

The UK’s Competition Markets Authority (CMA) has given the go-ahead for Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, accepting the tech giant’s modified deal and how it addresses concerns over cloud gaming competition. Microsoft could complete the deal within the next few days.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved Microsoft's revised deal to purchase Activision Blizzard.

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By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

Microsoft’s long-running pursuit of Activision Blizzard looks set to come to an end today after the UK finally cleared the deal and stock in the Call of Duty maker was halted.

British regulators on Friday dropped their objections to Microsoft's attempt to buy video game firm Activision Blizzard, the maker of "Call of Duty", paving the way for the US tech titan to close one of the biggest technology acquisitions ever.

British regulators on Friday dropped their objections to Microsoft's attempt to buy video game firm Activision Blizzard, the maker of "Call of Duty", paving the way for the US tech titan to close one of the biggest technology acquisitions ever.

The United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority has issued a preliminary approval of the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, as they move into a consultation period and prepare to make a final decision. The CMA previously moved to block the deal last April, citing concerns that it would damage competition in the cloud gaming market, leading to less innovation and choice for UK gamers. In response, Microsoft restructured their proposal to divest cloud gaming rights of Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft instead, who as an independent entity from Microsoft will replicate the role Activision would have played in the market as a standalone company.

In January 2022, Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 billion. Since then, Microsoft has had to overcome several hurdles to get the deal approved in various regions. The UK has been one of the biggest obstacles, though it appears some important progress has been made.

Microsoft has been working incredibly hard to acquire Activision Blizzard. This has caused the team to go through several battles between regulators to ensure they can finalize the purchase. However, one particular regulator has been firm on not allowing this merger to happen. That is the UK regulator CMA. However, upon winning some additional regulators and filing an appeal process, the CMA has since expressed their desire to discuss this deal again, which prompted the appeal process to be put on hold. 

Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been a major source of corporate drama these past few months. Back in April, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) moved to block the acquisition, stating «Microsoft’s proposed solution failed to effectively address the concerns in the cloud gaming sector». This block included a massive, 200-plus page findings report that suggests «The evidence we have seen suggests that cloud gaming may be an important disruptive force in the gaming industry.» 

With the United States’ FTC having failed to make a strong enough case to block Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) remains among the last major stumbling blocks that the deal needs to clear, and all parties involved have now taken another significant step towards resolution.

It now appears clear that Microsoft will be able to complete its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard within the next month. U.K. antitrust body the Competition and Markets Authority, which is the last remaining regulatory holdout with the legal authority to block the deal, says its concerns have been substantially addressed by Microsoft’s latest proposal.

The Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal is one step closer to completion today as the UK watchdog previously standing in its way announces its provisional approval of recent changes made. Under the reworked deal, Ubisoft would instead purchase Activision’s cloud gaming rights, addressing concerns from the CMA that Microsoft’s acquisition of said rights “would harm competition in cloud gaming in the UK.” The organization is now consulting on the proposed remedies before it makes its final decision.

Key staff at Microsoft and Activision have responded to the news of CMA’s approval of their merger acquisition, amended to include Ubisoft.

A UK watchdog has completed phase one of reviewing Microsoft's modified proposal to acquire Activision Blizzard, and it's looking good for those who wish to see the deal sealed.

Today, United Kingdom regulator CMA (Competition Markets Authority) shared its provisional findings on the restructured Activision Blizzard deal proposed by Microsoft.

UK regulator the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally agreed to allow Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

UK regulatory body the Competition and Markets Authority is reportedly preparing to share its preliminary judgement on Microsoft's revised Activision Blizzard deal next week.

UK business minister Kemi Badenoch has defended the Competition and Market Authority's decision to block the Microsoft-Activision deal.

UK regulator the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is likely to rule on Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard next week.

The CMA’s first decision on the revised Microsoft – Activision deal is expected to arrive next week.

Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick was briefed by Nintendo on Switch 2 in December last year.

Starfield is the most anticipated game launch in recent memory. After a seven-year development cycle, this oh-so-slow-baked RPG from Todd Howard and Bethesda gets roasted by the critics (apart from those in the UK) and the result? The taste is pleasant but less than thrilling, at least for some.

Breakneck development of artificial intelligence risked repeating mistakes made by the tech industry at the start of the social media era, Microsoft president Brad Smith told a business forum on Friday.

Artificial intelligence is being looked at in two ways globally. It is a great opportunity to boost productivity across the spectrum of human activity, but at the same time, this new tech has the potential to hurt humanity, and even cause its extinction. Caught in between are the developers who are actually working out the potential and how much they can milk it for profit. In this situation, a number of tech leaders have gathered in New Delhi to attend the B20 Summit India 2023 organised by CII.

Microsoft has partnered Sam Altman led OpenAI, a company that was famously funded by billionaire Elon Musk, to make rapid strides in the field of artificial intelligence. The company has taken up the cudgels against other tech majors including the likes of Google and Meta Platforms. This puts the company's president, Brad Smith, in the perfect position to speak on the issue that has divided the globe down the middle about its massive potential for good as well as an equal potential to do harm to humanity.

AI Roundup: Microsoft President Brad Smith today warned against the rapid development of AI as it could lead to tech companies making similar mistakes as the early years of social media. On the other hand, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna claimed that AI could not only increase productivity, but also lower business costs.

Microsoft first announced its intentions to acquire Activision Blizzard in 2022. Since then, the road to closing the deal has been a long, sinuous one. The megacorporation has faced pushback from several sources, including Sony. The competitor argues that the acquisition would be anti-competitive, especially if franchises like Call of Duty become Xbox and PC exclusives. Some governing bodies have also stepped in, now prompting Microsoft to revisit its initial agreement.

Today, Ubisoft announced that it had signed a deal with Microsoft that will allow it to host all the publisher’s titles and every game it releases within the next 15 years for Ubisoft + subscribers to play. This restructuring of Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard aims to ease concerns over a market monopoly from the UK’s approval board.

Microsoft has made a new offer, one that president Brad Smith describes as a «substantially different transaction», in its effort to get its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard over the finish line with the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority. The CMA had previously blocked the deal on grounds that included concerns about the nascent cloud gaming market, and the restructured deal will see all cloud rights to Activision Blizzard games signed over to Ubisoft for the next 15 years.

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

In an attempt to appease the UK’s Competition And Markets Authority (CMA), Microsoft have restructured their proposed Activision Blizzard buyout. Should the deal finally close, cloud streaming rights to existing and future Activision Blizzard games released over the next 15 years will (surprisingly) fall under Ubisoft’s control. Those rights will then stay with Ubisoft “in perpetuity.”

Microsoft is attempting to complete its acquisition of Activision Blizzard by restructuring the deal and involving games publisher Ubisoft.

Microsoft will sell the streaming rights to Activision Blizzard games if the merger between the two companies goes ahead, in an effort to get the deal approved in the UK.

French publishing giant Ubisoft has scored the rights to stream Activision Blizzard's stable of games.

Microsoft has submitted a new Activision Blizzard deal for review after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed the original deal is blocked.

Microsoft has today announced that it's restructuring its planned Activision-Blizzard acquisition by selling cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft.

At a glance

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Summit Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak  here  and learn more about sponsorship opportunities  here . 

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

One more country has approved Microsoft's mega purchase, leaving only one more pending outside of the UK's roadblock.

New Zealand has become the latest part of the world to give the nod to Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

New Zealand has become the latest company to approve Microsoft‘s impending purchase of Activision Blizzard.

Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been approved by New Zealand's Commerce Commission.

Facing calls to put guardrails on artificial intelligence development, a group of tech companies including Alphabet Inc.'s Google and OpenAI Inc. are creating an industry body to ensure that AI models are safe.

President Joe Biden said Friday that new commitments by Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and other companies that are leading the development of artificial intelligence technology to meet a set of AI safeguards brokered by his White House are an important step toward managing the “enormous” promise and risks posed by the technology.

As reported in The Verge, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suspending its administrative challenge to Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This comes after the FTC's request for emergency relief was denied in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and not long after a motion Microsoft and Activision Blizzard filed earlier to get the FTC from trying to block their proposed merger.