Microsoft’s 2022 acquisition of Activision Blizzard was valued at approximately $68.7 billion.
Microsoft announced the all-cash transaction in January 2022 and completed it in October 2023 after addressing regulatory concerns. The purchase added major game franchises, including Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, and Candy Crush, to Microsoft’s gaming portfolio.
The deal was strategically important because Microsoft was expanding Xbox, Game Pass, PC gaming, and cloud services. It also became one of the technology industry’s most closely examined acquisitions, with regulators in the United States and United Kingdom assessing its possible effects on competition.
Microsoft is one of the world’s largest companies by market capitalization, but acquisition value and market capitalization are different measurements. The deal price represented what Microsoft agreed to pay for Activision Blizzard’s equity, while market cap reflects the changing stock-market value of Microsoft itself.