Tommy Tuberville Believes Microsoft Can Close Activision Deal

A few weeks back, we wrote about a merger arbitrage opportunity present in the Activision Blizzard (ATVI:US) stock. Remember, earlier this year Microsoft Corp (MSFT:US) announced it has agreed to a near-$69 billion deal to acquire the game company, based on the price of $95.00 per ATVI share.

Due to a high regulatory risk that such a deal won’t be allowed to complete, shares Activision traded as much as 19% below the agreed price, implying a high chance that Microsoft will be forced to walk away from the deal. 

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), among other major global regulators, announced last week a move to block the MSFT-ATVI deal.

“Agency alleges that the maker of Xbox would gain control of top video game franchises, enabling it to harm competition in high-performance gaming consoles and subscription services by denying or degrading rivals’ access to its popular content,” FTC said in a press release. 

In addition to Congressman Ro Khanna, who invested between $15,000 - $50,000 in ATVI stock on September 29, Senator Tommy Tuberville is also betting that Microsoft will be able to close its biggest-ever M&A transaction.

Tuberville bought between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of ATVI shares on November 08, when the stock closed at $72.00. His position is already up more than 6% as Microsoft remains committed to close the deal despite regulatory objections.

Tuberville, a member of four Senate committees, very often trades Tech stocks.