Mark Androvich
16:36 (BST)
16/04/2008
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EU approves Vivendi merger with Activision
The European Commission has given permission for Vivendi to merge its videogame unit with Activision, approving the deal that was announced last December.
The merger gives Vivendi a 52 per cent stake in the new company called Activision Blizzard, whose annual revenue of USD 3.8 billion rivals that of Electronic Arts, currently the world's largest publisher.
According to Reuters, the commission said for "all categories of game software, the combined firm would continue to face several strong, effective competitors, such as Electronic Arts, and the game console manufacturers, such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft."
The EU had imposed an April 16 deadline for its inquiry into the merger to determine if it would cause a monopoly in the marketplace.
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