 |
|
|
|||||
Three years after suing to block Microsoft from buying one of the biggest names in video games, the U.S. government is finally giving up. The FTC announced plans Thursday to drop a Biden-era case against Microsoft over its $69 billion acquisition of game maker Activision Blizzard, a decision the regulator said now best serves the public interest. In 2022, the FTC first announced that it would try to kill Microsofts planned acquisition of the gaming giant, which makes hit games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. The following year, after the FTC failed to secure a preliminary injunction to stop it, Microsoft actually finalized the massive deal, but the regulator vowed to continue appealing that decision. Earlier this month, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower courts order denying the injunction, ruling that the FTCs claims that the deal would limit competition in the gaming industry were weak. The acquisition was destined for intense scrutiny from day one, both for its size and its potential to totally reshape the landscape for one of techs hottest sectors. Microsoft swooped in to save Activision Blizzard from itself When Microsoft announced its plan to buy Activision Blizzard in January 2022, the smaller company had been rocked by emerging allegations of systemic sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Those ongoing scandals eventually forced longtime CEO Bobby Kotick out of the company as Microsoft cleaned house leading into the merger. Microsoft also had to clear major regulatory hurdles in the U.K., resolving antitrust concerns there over its cloud gaming services before getting the green light to close the deal. That bit of regulatory maneuvering resulted in an unusual arrangement to offload cloud streaming rights for its games to competitor Ubisoft in order to appease the Competition and Markets Authority, the U.K.s powerful trust buster. (This portion of the deal isnt great news for anyone whos wrestled with Ubisofts awkward online gaming service over the years.) A boost to Microsofts online gaming roadmap By bringing Activision Blizzard under its wing, Microsoft can also bring the companys many hit titles into the popular Xbox Game Pass service, which gives players unlimited access to games for a monthly subscription fee. Gaming companies have increasingly turned to monthly subscriptions and live service games over the last decade and many of Activision Blizzards hit franchises revolve around online multiplayer, including Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo and World of Warcraft. Activision Blizzard also owns Candy Crush, a colorful tile-matching game thats still synonymous with mobile gaming almost a decade after Activision Blizzard bought its developer King for a then whopping $5.9 billion. Microsoft President Brad Smith described his company as grateful to the FTC for its decision to allow the acquisition to settle. Todays decision is a victory for players across the country and for common sense in Washington, D.C., Smith said.
Category:
E-Commerce
Starbucks in South Korea has barred customers from using the names of South Koreas six presidential candidates in their orders ahead of next month’s presidential election. A Starbucks Korea spokesperson told NBC News the policy was introduced in order to prevent inappropriate and abusive use of the names.” The decision comes as South Koreans have increasingly used their Starbucks’ orders to make a political statementordering via app under presidential candidates’ names, and using phrases in support of or to oppose them, forcing baristas to call them out for pickup, per NBC. Some examples of those orders include: “arrest Yoon Suk Yeol” and “[opposition leader] Lee Jae-myung is a spy,” per the BBC. According to Starbucks, the company needs to “maintain political neutrality during election season,” and will lift the ban on June 3 after the election, the BBC reported. Like many South Korean businesses, Starbucks is seeking neutrality amid the charged political atmosphere around the election, stemming from former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief martial law declaration and subsequent impeachment trial, which has deeply divided the East Asian democracy. Similarly, Naver, South Korea’s biggest search engine, has disabled autocomplete on search for the candidates, a common practice for the tech giant during an election cycle, according to the BBC. The six presidential candidates’ names that Starbucks has banned are: Lee Jae-myung, from the country’s liberal Democratic Party (DP); Kim Moon-soo, from former president Yoon Suk Yeol’ conservative People Power Party (PPP); and Lee Jun-seok, Kwon Young-kook, Hwang Kyo-ahn, and Song Jin-ho. As Fast Company previously reported, Starbucks recently posted disappointing earnings results for the second quarter of fiscal 2025, ending on March 30. Unlike in the previous quarter, Starbucks did not beat analyst revenue expectations, of $8.83 billion and an adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 49 cents, according to Yahoo Finance, instead posting a revenue of $8.76 billion and an adjusted EPS of 41 cents. One key metric, U.S. comparable store sales, declined 2% in Q2. Shares in Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) were trading up about 1% on Friday.
Category:
E-Commerce
The first Mission: Impossible film came out in 1996 when star Tom Cruise was 34 years old. Fast-forward to Memorial Day weekend 2025: Cruise is 62 and theres speculation that Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning could be the last movie in the franchise. Is this just a marketing ploy to get fans in theaters to kick off the summer blockbuster season? Who knows. Lets take a look at the history of these films, their box-office earning power, and what Cruise himself has said about the movies over the years. A brief history of the Mission: Impossible franchise The Mission: Impossible films are based on the 1966 TV series of the same name, which was created by Bruce Geller. Peter Graves, who played Jim Phelps on the series, didn’t appear in the first film and was in fact very disappointed with it because his character was made to be the villain in the story, as CNN reported. Actor Jon Voight took the role. Even though this move upset other actors from the series and some fans, the box office numbers proved that fans soon got over this reversal of the source material. The franchises first four installments had different directors, while the last four were helmed by Christopher McQuarrie. Cruise has been among the producers of the films from the beginning. How does it stack up against other action franchises? The Mission: Impossible films continue to jockey for the title of highest-grossing Tom Cruise movie, according to Screen Rant. Each new installment tends to beat the previous contender. According to Box Office Mojo, the seven films in the franchise have earned a domestic lifetime gross of $1.3 billion, making Mission: Impossible the 23rd most-valuable movie franchise by that measure. To put that in perspective, the Marvel super hero franchiseNo. 1 on the listhas earned $12.8 billion, followed by Star Wars ($5.1 billion), Disney live-action reimaginings ($3.5 billion), and Spider-Man ($3.3 billion). Compared to pure action-movie franchises, Mission: Impossible falls below James Bond ($2.3 billion) and the cars and costars of The Fast and the Furious ($2 billion), but it beats out Indiana Jones ($1.1 billion) and Tom Cruise’s own Top Gun franchise ($899 million). Why do fans think this might be the last Mission: Impossible movie? Originally, the latest two Mission: Impossible films were supposed to be a two-part story shot back-to-back. The second film was initially called Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part Two, with the name change being announced in October 2023. Part One was loved by critics but had a disappointing box office return. Further complicating the matter, Final’s budget kept growing because of delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the actors and writers strikes. These setbacks caused tension in the production process and may have even accelerated conversations of the film becoming a more definitive conclusion to the franchise. While the creative team has not publicly spoken out about the stress of the delays, the title change signals to fans this might be the last time Ethan Hunt saves the world. It is, I hope, the satisfying conclusion to a 30-year story arc, director McQuarrie said in an interview with Empire in February. Im pretty confident that people are going to feel that the title was appropriate. Cruise also seemed to confirm the end of an era on the red carpet at the New York premiere. Its the final! Its not called final for nothing, he commented to the Hollywood Reporter. Two years ago he told the same publication he would make Mission: Impossible movies into his 80s. When asked about this, he clarified: I actually said Im going to make movies into my 80s; actually, Im going to make them into my 100s. Since everything eventually seems to get a reboot these days, it is not far-fetched to believe audiences might see Ethan Hunt again, especially if the box office numbers are impressive. No spoilers but several reviewers, including Clint Gage for IGN, point out that the plot of the film leaves room for future storytelling opportunities. Cruise has several film projects in development over the next several years so it does appear that it is goodbyeat least for nowto the beloved franchise. Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning hits theaters in the United States on Friday, May 23.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||