14 min
Big calls: raising money, buying a company, a new CEO
A few decisions can remake a company in a day: borrowing billions, buying a rival, choosing a new boss. None of them is the CEO's alone. Here's how the board makes the big calls.
Sources and every number (2)
Sources
- Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard to bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone, across every device (January 18, 2022) · Microsoft, 2022
- Activision Blizzard, definitive merger proxy statement (DEFM14A) for the special meeting of April 28, 2022 · Activision Blizzard, Inc. (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), 2022
Every number
- $95.00
microsoft.com ·2022 · Microsoft's offer for each Activision Blizzard share, all in cash, January 2022. - 45.3%
sec.gov ·2022 · How much the offer was above Activision Blizzard's closing share price on the last trading day before the news, in January 2022 (its merger proxy says "approximately"). - $68.7B
microsoft.com ·2022 · What Microsoft said the deal was valued at, including Activision Blizzard's net cash (its cash minus its debt). - 21 months
(example number: Worked out: from the offer in January 2022 to the day Activision Blizzard's teams joined Xbox, October 2023 (Xbox Wire).) · Worked out: from the offer in January 2022 to the day Activision Blizzard's teams joined Xbox, October 2023 (Xbox Wire).