I’m sure they’ll do something about it
Lol I’m sorry I’m totally joking
They’re filing an appeal to undo the merger. What more do you want?
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You’re right, I should have done that, my bad.
I’m guessing because they haven’t been paid their share of the profits and savings. FTC only cares about themselves nothing more.
Like when do big mergers like this not end in layoffs? The redundancy in management wouldn’t make sense. Like what does the FTC think Microsoft was going to do? 😆
It was more than just managers and redundant positions that were laid off. And it was mostly blizzard employees laid off specifically.
Also
/no please don’t attack this innocent multi trillion dollar company
I don’t think he was defending the company, more saying that OF COURSE they’re going to do big layoffs, it only makes sense, and so if you (the courts) don’t stop them, then well… You don’t blame a lion for hunting a gazelle, it’s just what they do.
Ah good house cleaning at Activision Blizzard was long overdue …
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Microsoft reneged on promises it made in court…
If those promises aren’t legally binding, then why take them into account in the first place?
I will literally never understand why the word of a corporation has any weight if it isn’t bound by law.
You need to force corporations to act if it’s against their own interests.
It is because the billionaires write the laws through ALEC. The only part of the system which isn’t working as intended is that they had to make any promises in the first place.
And I’m not too happy with how capitalism chows down on the poor like the fucking Oroborus it is yet here we fuckin are.
Damn, would be crazy if they succeed in undoing the merger. Would be nice to see some consequences for blatantly lying to the court.
No you see it’s OK to lie to the court when you’re rich or a multinational company
Hmm, SCOTUS can see no issue with that argument. Passes historicity test for what the founders intended.
Except it doesn’t but that hasn’t stopped them from making up history in the past, even in the very case they set that test… Blind mice for referees.
What did they think was going to happen?
Well I for one am shocked to see a megacap do significant layoffs after M&A, talk about breaking with tradition!
I don’t think I’ve seen a game studio acquisition happen without layoffs of some sort. Doesn’t make it right, but it does seem like a horrible routine.
I don’t think I’ve seen a game studio acquisition happen without layoffs of some sort. Doesn’t make it right, but it does seem like a horrible routine.
It really depends on if the layoffs were done because they were duplicate people for the same job position, versus clearing house so that the stockholders are happier by having better profits.
The price tag, followed by a massive round of layoffs is eyebrow-raising.
Stock markets love capex, hates opex.
“Well done, you’ve spent 75 billion to buy market share!!”
“Oh no, you would spend at least 230 million/year for these employees - that just won’t do”.
Nevermind the fact that 1900 roles also buys market share (and you could run 1900 people for 300+ years), but opex is opex and execs are bonused on margins.
And the worst part is they will then brag about how low their opex is to the employees that are still there in the quarterly all-hands, as if it isn’t representing how much money they are making but not paying to employees. Well, ok, the worst part is the doing rather than the bragging, but still.
Idk, I’m starting to think that the shamelessness of bragging to your employees that you’re fucking them over is worse. At the very least, the employees should feel insulted that they’re supposed to be excited about it.
I wonder how many even realize that operating profit even is the money they make after paying every single expense including salaries.
Generally, the ones who understand the numbers are making enough that they don’t feel as fucked over. In my experience, anyway
For the unaware:
Capex=capital expenditures. These are the one-time purchases, which grow the business.
Opex=operating expenditures. These are the recurring costs of doing business. Payroll, utility payments, rent for office buildings, etc…Basically, the stock market loves it when you buy things. Stock owners see it as growing the company, and therefore growing the value of the stock. But they hate operating expenditures, because those make the company seem less valuable; Buying Activision (capex) is great for stock prices, but paying their employees (opex) isn’t.
This is why big corporate acquisitions are usually immediately followed by huge rounds of layoffs for the acquired company. The new company owns the things, but doesn’t want the opex to show up on the next quarterly expense report. So they’ll usually gut the acquired company. Because they’re usually buying other companies for things like copyrights, patents, trade secrets, etc… If they were interested in the employees at the acquired company, they’d be using recruiting tactics and headhunting, instead of simply buying the entire company.
Yeah but 1,900 staff, come the fuck on that’s a mass exodus not a layoff. I’m in a company of 300+ people and it’s a HUGE number of people, I can hardly process over 6x as many layoffs…
Oh absolutely agreed. It just sucks that this isn’t unusual, no matter how small or great the number. Hope the peeps get snatched up by better studios
This also pretty shitty on account that Kotick initiated loads of layoffs just before acquisition talks were even public. This is usual practice to make the company seem more valuable.
Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard always reminds me of this:
https://www.theonion.com/just-six-corporations-remain-1819564741
Keep in mind that article is from 1998. Prescient as always, the Onion really is America’s Finest News Source™.
Bill Clinton, chief executive of U.S. Government, a division of MCI-WorldCom, praised Monday’s merger as “an excellent move.”
I’ll be… they even predicted the “sovereign citizen” movement!
Taco Bell won the franchise wars
There’s a book called The Media Monopoly that details how media companies have consolidated to just a handful of mega corps and the book had to be republished 5 times since the 80s because every few years the number keeps shrinking dramatically. The author later released a brand new book called The New Media Monopoly which is essentially the 7th edition of the original book and at this point we’re in a fucked up late stage version of the problem he originally detailed.
From the Wiki on the author:
In 2000 Bagdikian stated, “Every edition has been considered by some to be alarmist and every edition ends up being too conservative.” In this latest version, Bagdikian wrote that the number of corporations controlling most of the media decreased to five: Disney, News Corporation, Time Warner, Viacom, and Bertelsmann. He argued, “This gives each of the five corporations and their leaders more communications power than was exercised by any despot or dictatorship in history.”
The Onion is a bit too accurate sometimes.
Then there’s the entire idea of Corporations. They used to be limited to government issued charters. Now they’re independent shield entities for rich people with human rights.
Bill Clinton, chief executive of U.S. Government, a division of MCI-WorldCom, praised Monday’s merger as “an excellent move.”’
LMAO
The Onion always tells factual stories. They’re just stories from the future.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=iKC21wDarBo
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
The actual fuck did they think was gonna happen? Literally everyone saw this coming except the FTC somehow I guess.
The FTC tried to stop the merger, it’s not their fault. Blame the courts.
The FTC argued this would happen, it’s the court that swallowed Microsoft’s tripe. This is the FTC’s “I told you, bro!”
The FTC knew it was coming, and tried to stop the merger. But they got shot down in the courts, because a judge believed Microsoft was going to be benevolent and not immediately lay off all of the acquired company’s employees.
This is the FTC’s way of publicly slapping the judge.
I’m sure the judge is losing sleep over this…
lol, ok
Title is weirdly worded. FTC is happy with Microsoft, just not too happy.
