The daily business briefing: May 16, 2023

The EU's antitrust watchdog approved Microsoft's bid to buy Activision Blizzard, but the purchase faces challenges in the U.K. and U.S.

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1. EU regulators approve Microsoft's $69 billion Activision Blizzard deal
2. Stock futures slip ahead of crucial talks on raising the debt limit
3. U.S. Virgin Islands subpoenas Elon Musk in Epstein lawsuit
4. 3M fires prominent executive for 'inappropriate personal conduct'
5. NBCUniversal's Peacock to stream an NFL playoff game exclusively

By Harold Maass, The Week US

published 16 May 2023

1. EU regulators approve Microsoft's $69 billion Activision Blizzard deal

The European Commission, the European Union's antitrust watchdog, on Monday approved Microsoft's $69 billion bid to buy video game company Activision Blizzard. EU officials signed off after Microsoft, which makes the Xbox gaming console, offered concessions guaranteeing rivals would still have access to Activision games, including "Call of Duty" and other popular titles. Microsoft still faces an uphill battle to complete what would be the largest consumer tech deal in two decades. The acquisition has hit regulatory roadblocks in the United Kingdom and the United States in recent months. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has sued to block the purchase, arguing it would hurt competition. An August hearing is scheduled in administrative court.

U.S. stock futures edged lower early Tuesday ahead of a meeting between President Biden and congressional leaders on raising the federal debt ceiling to avoid a potential default as soon as June 1. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 0.3 were down percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, at 6:45 a.m. ET. Nasdaq futures were flat. Investors are hoping for progress toward a deal on increasing the debt limit. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned last week that a default would trigger an "economic catastrophe." On Monday she said "waiting until the last minute to suspend or increase the debt limit can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence," among other problems.

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The U.S. Virgin Islands has subpoenaed Tesla CEO Elon Musk, demanding documents relating to its lawsuit claiming that JPMorgan Chase benefited from and enabled the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's alleged sex trafficking, according to a Monday filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The filing says Epstein might have referred Musk, who bought Twitter last year and is one of the world's richest people, to JPMorgan. The subpoena called for Musk to hand over all communication he had with Epstein, and all documents mentioning Epstein's involvement in procuring girls or women for paid sex or statutory rape. The petition doesn't implicate Musk in wrongdoing.

3M, the maker of Post-it notes, announced Monday it had fired a prominent executive, Michael Vale, over what it described as "inappropriate personal conduct and violation of company policy." Vale became group president and chief business and country officer last month after working at 3M for more than three decades. 3M didn't provide further details about Vale's termination, but it said it had started a search to replace him. The news came weeks after the company announced it would cut about 6,000 jobs worldwide as part of a restructuring effort. The cuts came on top of 2,500 manufacturing jobs the multinational conglomerate said it was eliminating in January.

The National Football League has agreed to a one-year deal with NBCUniversal's Peacock to show a playoff game next season exclusively on the streaming service, the two companies announced Monday. The NFL and Peacock didn't provide details of the deal's terms, but The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that it was worth about $110 million. This will be the first time a playoff game will be shown exclusively through streaming, although NFL games have been streamed before along with national or cable broadcasts. The Peacock game will be on Jan. 13 during Wild Card Weekend, the start of the NFL playoffs.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.