People Buying Activision Stock Worth Millions, Expecting Merger To Close

Microsoft’s Activision Bizzard acquisition was announced in January 2022, but it is still far from a conclusion. Previously, CMA blocked the acquisition, and Microsoft was recently engaged with the FTC in a series of court hearings over the merger.

Following the hearings, South Africa unconditionally approved the merger. Many experts also believe that Xbox will win the case against FTC. These favorable conditions for Microsoft have led to people buying millions of dollars of Activision stock.

As such, they are expecting the acquisition to go through.

Why it matters: Microsoft has faced no shortage of opposition from regulators and gaming companies. However, the tide appears to be shifting in the gaming giant’s favor.

Two absolute bombs in Activision this morning. Looks like a 20,000 contract buy based on Level 2/IV. Multimillion dollar premium buy targeting positive Microsoft Activision news soon pic.twitter.com/mQ5TX94fUW

— DM Options (@DMOptions) July 7, 2023

As seen above, someone appears to have purchased 1,000,000 shares of Activision twice at premium rates. The FTC court hearings concluded a few days ago, and the judge’s decision on the case is expected to be announced in a few days.

This could suggest that the stock traders expect Microsoft to win the case. If the decision is made in favor of Microsoft, the price of Activision shares will skyrocket, leading to a massive profit for the buyer.

However, if Microsoft loses the case, the shares are expected to see a massive drop in value. It is also possible that this buyer has insider information about the case and is making the purchase based on a positive result for Microsoft.

The previous court hearings have been very controversial, revealing plenty of confidential details from internal documents. These reveals include Microsoft’s plans to potentially make all Bethesda Softworks games exclusive in the future.

The gaming giant has no intention of letting go of the deal, as it has already been approved by many other countries. With the recent reports, the court hearings are quickly headed toward a conclusion, but it remains to be seen if the decision will benefit Microsoft.