The success of Microsoft’s biggest deal ever rides on rehabilitating Activision Blizzard’s culture, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella declared after announcing the $69 billion transaction.
Accomplishing that will require Microsoft to deviate from its usual hands-off approach on acquisitions to tackle what amounts to a "clean up” job of fixing the famed maker of the Call of Duty games franchise, which faces multiple accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct, analysts and management experts say.
Microsoft has traditionally allowed the companies it acquires to run autonomously, RBC Capital Markets analyst Rishi Jaluria said. In recent years, Microsoft purchased LinkedIn, GitHub, Skype and Mojang, the Stockholm-based creator of the video game series Minecraft, all of which have not seen major changes since their acquisitions.
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