{"id":9803,"date":"2023-04-27T18:37:27","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T16:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/27\/ignore-microsofts-whines-about-the-activision-blizzard-takeover-the-cma-did-its-job-nils-pratley\/"},"modified":"2023-04-27T18:37:27","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T16:37:27","slug":"ignore-microsofts-whines-about-the-activision-blizzard-takeover-the-cma-did-its-job-nils-pratley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/27\/ignore-microsofts-whines-about-the-activision-blizzard-takeover-the-cma-did-its-job-nils-pratley\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignore Microsoft\u2019s whines about the Activision Blizzard takeover. The CMA did its job | Nils Pratley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brad Smith\u2019s reaction to Competition and Markets Authority blocking deal is pure Big Tech entitlement<\/p>\n<p>The silliest line in Microsoft president Brad Smith\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2023\/apr\/27\/microsoft-says-eu-better-place-for-post-brexit-business-after-uk-blocks-activision-deal\">whine about the UK<\/a> was his claim that the Competition and Markets Authority is \u201cnot only unelected but unaccountable\u201d. That is an absurdly over-the-top reaction to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2023\/apr\/26\/microsoft-bid-for-activision-blizzard-blocked-by-uk-competition-regulator\">a regulatory thumbs-down<\/a> in the UK, on entirely coherent grounds, for Microsoft\u2019s planned $68.7bn (\u00a355bn) takeover of the video games firm Activision Blizzard.<\/p>\n<p>What does Smith want? A national poll to choose the directors of the independent body responsible for competition and consumer protection? In practice, one suspects, Smith would expect to see something like the UK\u2019s current system. The chair of the CMA, its chief executive and the rest of the board are appointed by the business secretary of the elected government. Grant Shapps, holder of the post at the time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/sarah-cardell-named-ceo-of-competition-and-markets-authority\">appointed Sarah Cardell as CMA chief executive last December<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/nils-pratley-on-finance\/2023\/apr\/27\/ignore-microsoft-whines-activision-blizzard-the-cma-did-its-job\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><br \/>\n<img src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fe3688e9364b2bea6abb6965e09645239e5be1a4\/13_0_3974_2385\/master\/3974.jpg?width=140&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=4cfc5c665c98f6f40037e27da98e0826\" title=\"Ignore Microsoft\u2019s whines about the Activision Blizzard takeover. The CMA did its job | Nils Pratley\" \/>Brad Smith\u2019s reaction to Competition and Markets Authority blocking deal is pure Big Tech entitlement<br \/>\nThe silliest line in Microsoft president Brad Smith\u2019s whine about the UK was his claim that the Competition and Markets Authority is \u201cnot only unelected but unaccountable\u201d. That is an absurdly over-the-top reaction to a regulatory thumbs-down in the UK, on entirely coherent grounds, for Microsoft\u2019s planned $68.7bn (\u00a355bn) takeover of the video games firm Activision Blizzard.<br \/>\nWhat does Smith want? A national poll to choose the directors of the independent body responsible for competition and consumer protection? In practice, one suspects, Smith would expect to see something like the UK\u2019s current system. The chair of the CMA, its chief executive and the rest of the board are appointed by the business secretary of the elected government. Grant Shapps, holder of the post at the time, appointed Sarah Cardell as CMA chief executive last December. Continue reading&#8230;Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brad Smith\u2019s reaction to Competition and Markets Authority blocking deal is pure Big Tech entitlement The silliest line in Microsoft president Brad Smith\u2019s whine about the UK was his claim that the Competition and Markets Authority is \u201cnot only unelected but unaccountable\u201d. That is an absurdly over-the-top reaction to a regulatory thumbs-down in the UK, &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/27\/ignore-microsofts-whines-about-the-activision-blizzard-takeover-the-cma-did-its-job-nils-pratley\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Ignore Microsoft\u2019s whines about the Activision Blizzard takeover. The CMA did its job | Nils Pratley<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9803"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}