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The Guardian - UK

Technology

Mark Sweney

Microsoft to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard for nearly $70bn

Microsoft Activision Blizzard Activision United States

Call of Duty: Vanguard — Activision Blizzard publishes games including Call of Duty: Vanguard. Photograph: Activision

Microsoft is to pay almost $70bn to buy Activision Blizzard, the publisher of mega franchises including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush, in the biggest ever takeover in the tech and gaming sectors.

Microsoft said that the $68.7bn (£50.6bn) all-cash deal – which dwarfs its previous biggest, the $26bn takeover of LinkedIn in 2016 – will “provide the building blocks for the metaverse”. It is the biggest deal in tech history, eclipsing the $67bn paid by Dell to buy the digital storage giant EMC in 2015.

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