{ "meta": { "table": "decisions", "data_as_of": "2026-09-08", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "attribution": "Brandtree brand ownership dataset, 2026-09-08, https://brandtree.org/data, CC BY 4.0" }, "rows": [ { "id": "cma-microsoft-activision-restructured-2023", "regulator": "cma", "case_number": "Microsoft / Activision Blizzard (ex-cloud streaming rights) merger inquiry", "decision": "cleared_with_remedies", "decided": "2023-10-06", "deal": "microsoft-acquires-activision-2023", "phase": "Phase 1", "remedies": "divest_business->ubisoft", "summary": "After the original transaction was prohibited, Microsoft restructured it to exclude the cloud streaming rights, selling them to Ubisoft. The Competition and Markets Authority reviewed the restructured deal as a separate inquiry and cleared it on 6 October 2023, allowing the acquisition to complete a week later.", "sources": "src-cma-msft-activision-restructured" }, { "id": "ftc-microsoft-activision-2023", "regulator": "ftc", "case_number": "FTC Matter 2210077", "decision": "investigating", "decided": "2023-07-11", "deal": "microsoft-acquires-activision-2023", "phase": null, "remedies": "", "summary": "The Federal Trade Commission challenged the acquisition in its own administrative court and separately sought a preliminary injunction in federal court to stop it closing. The injunction was denied in July 2023 and the deal completed, while the administrative proceeding remained on foot. It is a clear example of three regulators reaching three different answers on one transaction.", "sources": "src-ftc-msft-activision" }, { "id": "cma-amazon-irobot-2023", "regulator": "cma", "case_number": "Amazon / iRobot merger inquiry", "decision": "cleared", "decided": "2023-06-16", "deal": "amazon-acquires-irobot-2022", "phase": "Phase 1", "remedies": "", "summary": "The Competition and Markets Authority cleared Amazon's proposed acquisition of iRobot unconditionally in June 2023, finding it would not substantially lessen competition in robot vacuums. European regulators took a different view, and Amazon abandoned the transaction in January 2024 rather than contest it, leaving iRobot independent.", "sources": "src-cma-amazon-irobot" }, { "id": "cma-microsoft-activision-2023", "regulator": "cma", "case_number": "Microsoft / Activision Blizzard merger inquiry", "decision": "blocked", "decided": "2023-04-26", "deal": "microsoft-acquires-activision-2023", "phase": "Phase 2", "remedies": "", "summary": "The Competition and Markets Authority blocked Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard in April 2023, finding it would harm competition in cloud gaming. It was the only major regulator to prohibit the deal outright, and the decision was widely reported as putting the transaction in doubt worldwide. The case was closed in August 2023 once the parties restructured.", "sources": "src-cma-msft-activision" }, { "id": "cma-facebook-giphy-2022", "regulator": "cma", "case_number": "Facebook, Inc (now Meta Platforms, Inc) / Giphy, Inc", "decision": "cleared_with_remedies", "decided": "2022-10-18", "deal": "meta-acquires-giphy-2020", "phase": "Phase 2", "remedies": "divest_business:giphy", "summary": "The Competition and Markets Authority ordered Meta to sell Giphy, a transaction that had already completed, after finding the acquisition harmed competition in display advertising and in the supply of animated images. Meta appealed, lost on the substance, and sold Giphy to Shutterstock for a small fraction of what it had paid. Unwinding a completed acquisition is rare.", "sources": "src-cma-facebook-giphy" }, { "id": "cma-sainsburys-asda-2019", "regulator": "cma", "case_number": "J Sainsbury PLC / Asda Group Ltd merger inquiry", "decision": "blocked", "decided": "2019-04-25", "deal": "sainsburys-asda-merger-2019", "phase": "Phase 2", "remedies": "", "summary": "The Competition and Markets Authority blocked the merger of Sainsbury's and Asda in April 2019, finding it would raise prices and reduce quality across hundreds of local areas and at national level. The parties had offered to sell stores; the Authority concluded no realistic divestiture could resolve the harm, and prohibited the deal outright.", "sources": "src-cma-sainsburys-asda" }, { "id": "doj-bayer-monsanto-2018", "regulator": "doj-antitrust", "case_number": "US v. Bayer AG and Monsanto Company", "decision": "cleared_with_remedies", "decided": "2018-05-29", "deal": "bayer-acquires-monsanto-2018", "phase": null, "remedies": "divest_business->basf", "summary": "The Department of Justice allowed Bayer to acquire Monsanto only after requiring the divestiture of about $9 billion of businesses to BASF, which the Department described at the time as the largest merger divestiture it had ever obtained. Bayer subsequently faced very large liabilities from Monsanto's glyphosate litigation.", "sources": "src-doj-bayer-monsanto" }, { "id": "doj-modelo-2013", "regulator": "doj-antitrust", "case_number": "1:13-cv-00127 (D.D.C.)", "decision": "cleared_with_remedies", "decided": "2013-04-19", "deal": "constellation-acquires-modelo-us-2013", "phase": null, "remedies": "divest_brand:corona-us->constellation-brands; divest_brand:modelo-especial->constellation-brands; divest_brand:pacifico->constellation-brands; divest_business->constellation-brands", "summary": "The Department of Justice sued to block AB InBev's acquisition of the rest of Grupo Modelo, arguing it would raise beer prices in the United States. The parties settled with a proposed final judgment requiring AB InBev to sell Constellation Brands the perpetual United States rights to the Modelo brands and the Piedras Negras brewery, which is why Corona has a different owner in the United States.", "sources": "src-doj-modelo-2013" }, { "id": "oft-facebook-instagram-2012", "regulator": "cma", "case_number": "Facebook / Instagram Inc", "decision": "cleared", "decided": "2012-08-14", "deal": "facebook-acquires-instagram-2012", "phase": "Phase 1", "remedies": "", "summary": "The Office of Fair Trading, whose case records the Competition and Markets Authority now holds, cleared Facebook's acquisition of Instagram unconditionally in August 2012. Competition authorities later came to regard purchases of this kind very differently, and the same transaction became central to the antitrust case brought against the company in the United States.", "sources": "src-oft-facebook-instagram" }, { "id": "oft-inbev-anheuser-busch-2008", "regulator": "cma", "case_number": "InBev NV/SA / Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc", "decision": "cleared", "decided": "2008-11-18", "deal": "inbev-acquires-anheuser-busch-2008", "phase": "Phase 1", "remedies": "", "summary": "The Office of Fair Trading cleared InBev's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch for the United Kingdom in November 2008. The combination created the largest brewer in the world and began the consolidation that later produced the AB InBev and SABMiller merger.", "sources": "src-oft-inbev-ab" }, { "id": "ec-m1990", "regulator": "european-commission", "case_number": "M.1990", "decision": "cleared_with_remedies", "decided": "2000-09-28", "deal": "unilever-acquires-bestfoods-2000", "phase": "Article 6(1)(b) with conditions and obligations", "remedies": "divest_business", "summary": "The European Commission cleared Unilever's acquisition of Bestfoods in Phase I on 28 September 2000 under Article 6(1)(b) with conditions and obligations, after the parties offered divestitures. The case was notified on 16 August 2000 under the then-applicable Council Regulation 4064/89.", "sources": "src-ec-m1990" }, { "id": "ec-m1802", "regulator": "european-commission", "case_number": "M.1802", "decision": "cleared_with_remedies", "decided": "2000-03-08", "deal": "unilever-acquires-amora-maille-2000", "phase": "Article 6(1)(b) with conditions and obligations", "remedies": "divest_business", "summary": "The European Commission cleared Unilever's acquisition of the French condiments group Amora-Maille on 8 March 2000 under Article 6(1)(b) with conditions and obligations. The case was notified on 25 January 2000.", "sources": "src-ec-m1802" } ] }