A CMA director who is said to have played a central role in blocking the Activision Blizzard takeover worked for a SONY law firm in the past.
While more than 37 countries have now approved the takeover of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, the British supervisory authority CMA continues to block it, citing imminent dangers for the cloud gaming market as justification.
The prominent patent attorney Florian Mueller has now come across an interesting detail, which may also have played a role in the decision-making process of the CMA.
According to his research, the executive director of the CMA, Colin Raftery, worked for the law firm Cleary Gottlieb between 2006 and 2013, which represented SONY in the protests against the takeover at the official level. According to Mueller’s sources, Raftery played a key role in blocking the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
It is unclear whether there remain any relationships between the firm and the CMA director that may constitute a conflict of interest and how these may have influenced Raftery’s decision.
Raftery is said to have played a leading role in the failed merger of the two British supermarket chains ASDA and Sainsbury’s, although he worked as a legal advisor for the competing supermarket chain Tesco. For the CMA, however, this fact did not constitute a conflict of interest at the time.
= Partner & affiliate links: Possible listed offers are usually provided with so-called affiliate links. With a purchase through one of these links you support Xboxdynasty. Without affecting the price, we receive a small commission from the provider and can offer this website to you free of charge.
