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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella arrives to court in San Francisco on June 28, 2023. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard CEOs are expected to testify to persuade a federal judge in California to reject the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to block their $69 billion deal.

Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Wednesday that he would like to eliminate exclusive arrangements between video games and popular gaming consoles.

Larger gaming rivals Nintendo and Sony often release exclusive titles on their devices as a way to lure customers in a competitive market. Microsoft employs the strategy as well for its Xbox, though Nadella said his company is a “low share player in the console market.”

Regarding exclusive deals, Nadella said “I have no love for that world.”

Nadella spoke at a hearing in federal court in San Francisco, as the Federal Trade Commission seeks judicial support to prevent Microsoft from closing its $68.7 billion acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard. The FTC is worried that the tie-up could allow Microsoft to withhold popular games in Activision’s library from other consoles or degrade service for those games elsewhere.

Microsoft has said it wants to add Activision games to its Game Pass subscription service. To quell regulator concerns, Microsoft has offered 10-year agreements to make Activision’s popular Call of Duty titles available for Sony and Nintendo consoles.

Sony hasn’t accepted Microsoft’s offer and is opposed to its acquisition of Activision.

“I believe that this transaction is bad for competition,” Jim Ryan, head of Sony Interactive Entertainment, said in a video deposition that was played in court on Tuesday.

Nadella’s view on consoles reflects his broader approach to technology platforms. Since becoming CEO in 2014, he’s changed the culture at a company long known for proprietary closed systems, attempting to ensure that its software can work well on multiple devices, not just its own hardware.

Microsoft has brought its Office productivity applications to Apple’s iPad and its SQL Server database software to Linux. In earlier years, Microsoft prioritized Windows, but today the operating system is no longer the crucial source of revenue that it was. In the fiscal third quarter, Microsoft said Windows represented just over 10% of revenue, down from about 25% in 2011.

A Microsoft spokesperson said Nadella’s comments on Wednesday “made it abundantly clear that Microsoft will honor its commitments to its partners and the gaming community to bring more games to more players.” 

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to testify today

Nadella also acknowledges that, when it comes to gaming, Microsoft has challenges. Microsoft’s cloud service, which is available in Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions, is “just not good enough” as a substitute for current platforms, he said.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is skeptical of multi-game subscription services in general. He said in court on Wednesday that his company has experimented with them, including working with Nvidia’s GeForce Now while it was in a testing phase.

Kotick, whose company is based in Santa Monica, California, said he still wants to get the deal done with Microsoft even if he holds a differing opinion on subscriptions and whether they present a big opportunity.

“Maybe part of it is being in Los Angeles and having watched the big media companies move their content to these subscription streaming services, and the business results have suffered,” Kotick said.

Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley will decide if the FTC will receive a preliminary injunction that would stop Microsoft from closing the deal. Meanwhile, in the U.K., the Competition and Markets Authority moved to block the transaction in April.

“My board’s view is if the preliminary injunction is granted, they don’t see how the deal can continue,” Kotick said.

WATCH: FTC injunction on Microsoft-Activision merger ‘a positive development’, says TD Cowen’s Aaron Glick

FTC injunction on Microsoft-Activision merger 'a positive development', says TD Cowen's Aaron Glick

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Chinese tech giant Tencent posts 13% revenue jump as growth at key gaming unit surges

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Chinese tech giant Tencent posts 13% revenue jump as growth at key gaming unit surges

Chinese tech company Tencent is a gaming giant and the parent company of WeChat, the ubiquitous social messaging app in China.

Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Tencent on Wednesday reported an annual rise in its top and bottom line in the first quarter fuelled by accelerated growth in its key gaming business.

While revenue beat expectations, its net profit fell short.

Here’s how Tencent did in the first quarter of 2025 versus LSEG estimates:

  • Revenue: 180.02 billion Chinese yuan ($25 billion), versus 174.63 billion yuan expected
  • Net profit: 47.8 billion yuan, versus 52.2 billion yuan expected

Revenue rose 13% year-on-year, while net profit was up 14%.

This breaking news story is being updated.

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Sony shares rise about 2% in volatile trading following share buyback announcement

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Sony shares rise about 2% in volatile trading following share buyback announcement

A file photo of Hiroki Totoki, Sony Group Corporation executive, delivering a keynote address at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, on January 6, 2025. 

Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Sony Group shares rose about 2% Wednesday in volatile trading after the Japanese conglomerate announced a 250 billion yen ($1.7 billion) share buyback and operating income beat estimates.   

Operating income for the last three months of the financial year came in at 203.6 billion yen, beating mean analyst estimates of 192.2 billion yen, though it was down 11% from the same period last year. 

In the earnings report, the Japanese-based electronics, entertainment and finance company announced a stock buyback of shares worth 250 billion yen. 

Sony also provided details on a partial spinoff of its financial unit. The company plans to distribute slightly more than 80% of the shares of common stock of the spinoff to shareholders of Sony Group through dividends. 

The financial unit will list its financial operation this year and will be classified as a discontinued operation in Sony’s accounting from the current quarter, the company added. 

However, Sony’s outlook for the current financial year ending in March was lackluster.

The company forecasted its operating profit to rise a slight 0.3% to 1.28 trillion yen, after flagging a 100 billion yen hit from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Yet, Sony clarified that the estimated tariff impact did not reflect the trade deal made between the U.S. and China on May 12 and that the actual impact could vary significantly. 

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Samsung Electronics to acquire heating and cooling solutions provider FläktGroup for 1.5 billion euros

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Samsung Electronics to acquire heating and cooling solutions provider FläktGroup for 1.5 billion euros

A Samsung Group flag flutters in front of the company’s Seocho building in Seoul. 

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday announced that it would acquire all shares of German-based FläktGroup, a leading heating and cooling solutions provider, for 1.5 billion euros ($1.68 billion) from European investment firm Triton. 

Samsung said the acquisition would help it expand in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning business as the market experiences rapid growth. 

“Our commitment is to continue investing in and developing the high-growth HVAC business as a key future growth engine,” said TM Roh, Acting Head of the Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics.  

The acquisition of FläktGroup stands to bolster Samsung’s position in the HVAC market against rivals such as LG Electronics. 

FläktGroup supplies heating, HVAC solutions to a wide range of buildings and facilities, notably data centers which require a high degree of stable cooling. Samsung said it anticipates sustained growth in data center demand due to the proliferation of generative AI, robotics, autonomous driving and other technologies.

FläktGroup has more 60 major customers, including leading pharmaceutical companies, biotech and food and beverage firms, and gigafactories, according to Samsung’s statement.

Samsung said in March that its HVAC solutions had achieved double-digit annual revenue growth over the past five years, and that the company aimed to boost revenue by more than 30% in 2025.

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