logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2024
36m 47s

Activision Blizzard: What Microsoft Got ...

The Motley Fool
About this episode
Last year, Microsoft closed its takeover of Activision Blizzard, the maker of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. In the months that followed, interest rates rose, expectations changed, and Microsoft Gaming eliminated 8% of its workforce. Jason Schreier is the author of Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment and a reporter at B ... Show More
Up next
Yesterday
Oil Pulls the Market Lower Again
Oil rose sharply early on Wednesday and the market didn’t like what it saw. But oil may not be the big driver of stocks that it was a few months ago and the pullback may simply be a healthy breather for hot stocks. Plus, we discuss some new EVs hitting the market and how satellit ... Show More
23m 10s
Jul 7
AI Expectations Hit a Fever Pitch
Every quarter recently, semiconductor stocks keep churning out incredible numbers. And every quarter, it seems as those companies somehow “miss expectations”. The most recent example was when Samsung Electronics reported a 1,900% increase in profits, the stock dropped so much it ... Show More
22m 38s
Jul 6
Are Index Funds Making the Market “Irrational”?
Matt, Rachel, and Jon talk about SK Hynix’s upcoming U.S. IPO, explaining what high-bandwidth memory is and which companies could potentially benefit from the company’s IPO proceeds. The Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing team then tackles two questions from the mailbag. The first ... Show More
27m 23s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2024
What happened to Activision Blizzard?
The video game industry is bigger than movies and music combined. As part of our ongoing Skin in the Game series, we’re chatting with journalist Jason Schreier about the rise and fall of Blizzard, the company behind such games as World of Warcraft. It’s a story about the push and ... Show More
8m 21s
Nov 2022
How Will Gamers and Investors Respond to Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard?
In January 2022, Microsoft announced its acquisition of the video game company Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. The deal would make Microsoft the world’s third largest video game company, but it also exposes the company to several risks. First, the all-cash deal would requi ... Show More
18m 55s
Jan 2022
Business Weekly: 22/01/2022
On this edition of Business Weekly, we look at the gaming industry’s biggest deal so far, as Microsoft stumps up nearly $69bn to buy Activision Blizzard, the company behind mega-games including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. We hear how Microsoft wants to increase its slice ... Show More
50m 16s
May 2024
Why are so many people in gaming losing their jobs?
Epic Games. Microsoft. Riot Games; owners of the biggest computer game titles in the world and part of a gaming industry which has been valued at $200 billion. That’s more than the music and entertainment industry combined. It’s not all plain sailing though.Epic Games, which crea ... Show More
14m 52s
Oct 2023
How Microsoft bagged Activision Blizzard
<p>In the 1990s, Microsoft was seen as a tech industry bully. Once viewed as combative and ruthless in the eyes of regulators, the company underwent an image makeover in the decades since. Now, the FT’s Richard Waters explains how Microsoft’s transformation pushed their $75bn acq ... Show More
19m 3s
Jan 2022
Xbox Buys Activision Blizzard - Holy S&*%
Xbox continues its spending spree, buying Activision-Blizzard for almost $70 billion. We spent almost the entire podcast discussing it, from future game exclusivity to Microsoft's role in cleaning up Activision Blizzard's toxic workplace culture to whether or not so much consolid ... Show More
1h 20m
Jul 2023
Microsoft's deal to buy Activision boosted by US judge
<p>A US court has given Microsoft the green light to buy the videogame maker Activision Blizzard in a deal worth $69bn. Microsoft said after the US win, it would focus on resolving concerns around competition in the UK. The tech giant's merger with the Call of Duty owner would be ... Show More
50m 48s
May 2023
How Call of Duty became Britain's post-Brexit battleground
Microsoft has found itself in a bitter war of words with both its gaming rival Sony and the UK authorities, over a multi-billion dollar takeover bid of games developer Activision Blizzard. So what is the future of Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty franchise on Xbox or Playstatio ... Show More
27m 9s