Today Activision Blizzard announced via press release that the vote among shareholders to approve the acquisition by Microsoft has concluded.
During a special meeting hosted for the purpose, shareholders holding 98% of the company’s shares voted in favor of the acquisition proposal.
CEO Bobby Kotick accompanied the announcement with a comment, calling the support for the deal “overwhelming.”
“Today’s overwhelmingly supportive vote by our stockholders confirms our shared belief that, combined with Microsoft, we will be even better positioned to create great value for our players, even greater opportunities for our employees, and to continue our focus on becoming an inspiring example of a welcoming, respectful, and inclusive workplace.”
The proposed deal, which was announced in January and took the gaming industry and the investor world by storm, involves Microsoft offering shareholders $95.00 per share (against the current price of $76.92 per share) in an all-cash transaction.
While closing conditions and the completion of regulatory review are still pending, so the acquisition has not completely gone through yet, this is a significant milestone toward that end.
Microsoft expects to close the acquisition within its next fiscal year, which will begin July 2022 and end on June 30, 2023.
If you’d like to learn about Microsoft’s financial performance that is certainly enabling this kind of expensive deal, you can read our recent dedicated article.