Competition watchdog warns against turning ‘blind eye’ to anti-competitive deals

The Competition and Markets Authority faced heavy criticism from Microsoft for blocking its £55 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard.

The European Commission approved Xbox-owner Microsoft’s £55 billion deal to take over Activision Blizzard on Monday (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Archive)

It is not worth turning a “blind eye” to anti-competitive business takeovers in order to boost the UK’s reputation as a place to do business, the chair of the competition watchdog has said.

His comments come after the body’s decision to block Microsoft’s 69 billion US dollar (£55 billion) takeover of games company Activision Blizzard, a deal which the European Union approved earlier this week.

Following the decision, Microsoft said the EU was clearly a “more attractive place to start a business”.