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Shares of Black Knight Inc. drew closer to Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s takeover offer as Wall Street bolstered bets

Microsoft Corp.’s once seemingly doomed $69 billion bid for Activision Blizzard Inc. gained more momentum on Monday after

By Sam Tobin LONDON Microsoft on Monday asked a London tribunal to pause its appeal against Britain's block

Microsoft will keep Call of Duty on PlayStation after it buys the series’ developer, according to a new deal signed with PlayStation. The Xbox and PlayStation makers have been engaged in a sometimes angry war in recent months, as Microsoft attempts to buy Activision Blizzard, the developer of games including Call of Duty. PlayStation’s objections centre around the fact that the deal would give Microsoft too much control over the gaming market, given the dominance of Call of Duty among players on consoles. Those objections have led to legal hearings, as well as opposition from regulators and competition authorities. At times, those legal objections have looked to derail the deal, which would be the biggest ever gaming acquisition if it is completed. But it now looks to be moving forward, after Microsoft announced that it had signed a “binding agreement” to make the games available on other consoles when the deal is complete. The deal could further ease regulators concerns about what would happen to the game as well as the broader console and gaming market if the deal goes ahead. It is the latest piece of good news for Microsoft, which won a legal case last week against objections from the US Federal Trade Commission, and looks to be moving towards closing the deal. “We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games,” said Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of Xbox, in a tweet. And Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a tweet, “Even after we cross the finish line for this deal’s approval, we will remain focused on ensuring that Call of Duty remains available on more platforms and for more consumers than ever before.” The FTC had argued the deal would hurt consumers whether they played video games on consoles or had subscriptions because Microsoft would have an incentive to shut out rivals like Sony. To address the FTC’s concerns, Microsoft had earlier agreed to license “Call of Duty” to rivals, including a 10-year contract with Nintendo, contingent on the merger closing. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Battery breakthroughs are about to trigger a transport revolution ‘Hostile states using organised crime gangs as proxies in the UK’ Powerful solar flare to disrupt communications, Russians warn

Microsoft Corp. and Activision Blizzard Inc. — the video-game empire it’s seeking to take over in a $69

Direct messaging is reportedly coming to Threads soon as the Twitter rival app’s user base grows to nearly one-tenth of the Elon Musk-owned platform. A leaked internal report from Meta suggests DMs will be “coming soon” to Instagram’s Threads, along with other exciting features, Business Insider reported. Initially, Instagram’s chief Adam Mosseri had said DMs are not in Threads’ immediate roadmap, but the new leaked memo suggests the Twitter competitor could offer the messaging feature much sooner than expected. This expected update to the platform comes as Threads now has over 100 million user sign ups just within days of its arrival, boasting a weekly active user base that is nearly one-fifth of competitor Twitter’s. Within just its first week of launch, Threads racked up about 93 million active users globally and on 10 July, Meta announced that the app had reached 100 million signups. The app now has more than 150 million downloads, reaching this milestone “5.5 times more quickly than the second-fastest app to do so”, according to the app intelligence firm data.ai. Niantic’s Pokémon GO held the top spot as the most rapidly downloaded app for years since its debut in July 2016. Among Threads’ userbase, data.ai’s report suggested India accounts for nearly a third of the app’s downloads, followed by Brazil, with 22 per cent of overall Threads’ installs, and the US representing about 16 per cent of the total. Now, with the anticipated inclusion of a direct messaging feature, people on Threads can stay longer and chat privately without having to leave the app. Other features such as improved search, trends and topics are also reportedly coming soon, along with a feed in chronological order. It is unclear when these new updates will come. The new changes could put more pressure on Twitter and its owner Elon Musk, who said the platform continues to lose cash as advertising has dropped by half. “We’re still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50 per cent drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load,” Mr Musk tweeted on Saturday. “Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” he said. Read More $44 billion and eight months later. It’s finally all over for Elon Musk Twitter changed my life – I’ll never forgive Elon Musk for what he’s done to it Twitter is in negative cash flow due to 50% drop in advertising revenue, says Elon Musk Twitter in negative cash flow due to 50% drop in advertising revenue, says Elon Musk Twitter starts making payments to its most controversial users Elon Musk posts series of explicit tweets about Mark Zuckerberg

Microsoft has signed an agreement with Sony to ensure "Call of Duty" remains available on PlayStation after Microsoft closes its $69 billion Activision Blizzard merger, the tech giant said Sunday.

A US appeals court denied a Federal Trade Commission bid to pause Microsoft Corp.’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard

A federal appeals court said it will not block Microsoft from closing its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, handing the Federal Trade Commission its second major defeat this week in a case involving the future of the video game industry.

(This story has been refiled to fix the dateline) By Foo Yun Chee and Chavi Mehta The U.S.

Microsoft Corp. and Activision Blizzard Inc. are considering giving up some control of their cloud-gaming business in the

The US Federal Trade Commission urged an appeals court to delay Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion takeover of Activision