merger, there was openin activision merger, there was open injuly 2022 and didn't opine the termination23 because the last of all the recommendation authorities to clear and so we are seeing regulators which is excessively bureaucratic, what they're looking to do accelerate decision—making in the scope. accelerate decision-making in the scape-— accelerate decision-making in the scoe. �* ., �*, , , ., the scope. and that's seems to be the message _ the scope. and that's seems to be the message coming - the scope. and that's seems to be the message coming from i be the message coming from every area of government right now, we need to do all we can to fuel growth in the uk economy, where the prime minister announcing big investment in al in the uk, recently as well which is interesting given what we heard from the president of the us in the last few hours. your take on all these measures in the uk, is going to do thejob? i uk, is going to do the job?! think the removal of uk, is going to do the job? i think the removal of market actually will put us shot across all the different regulator

network, which has been open since october 2023, but if you go back a little further to the microsoft—activision 2022 and didn't opine, find a determination until november 2023 — it was the last of all of the regulatory authorities to clear it. so, really, we've seen a regulatory authority which is probably excessively bureaucratic, and i presume what they are looking to do is accelerate decision—making in this going forward. yael selfin is chief economist at kpmg uk. good to have you here. the chancellor says the uk is open for business, come and invest. it's one thing saying it, it's a very different in getting the investment.— a very different in getting the investment. ., , ., investment. how will she do it? well, i investment. how will she do it? well, lthink_ investment. how will she do it? well, i think one _ investment. how will she do it? well, i think one of _ investment. how will she do it? well, i think one of the - investment. how will she do it? well, i think one of the things l well, i think one of the things that's really important for businesses clarity and understanding the lon

but if you go back a little further to activision merger, that was actually opened injuly 2022 and didn'tpine a final determination until november 2023, it was the last of all of the regulatory authorities to clear it. so really we've seen a regulatory authority which is probably excessively bureaucratic, and i presume what they're looking to do is accelerate decision—making in this going forward. and that seems to be the message coming from every area of government right now. we need to do all we can to fuel growth in the uk economy. we had the prime minister announcing a big investment in al in the uk recently as well, which is interesting given what we heard from the president of the us in the last few hours. your take on all these measures in the uk, is it going to do the job? actually will actually put a sort of shot across well, yes, i mean, ithink the removal of marcus bokkerink actually will actually put a sort of shot across all of the different regulators in the uk, because they'll all realise they're suddenly in the firing line. so i think we will see quite a marked change of b

but if you go back a little further to the microsoft activision merger, that was actually opened injulyand didn't opine a final determination until november 2023, it was the last of all of the regulatory authorities to clear it. so really we've seen a regulatory authority which is probably excessively bureaucratic, and i presume what they're looking to do is accelerate decision—making in this going forward. uk government borrowing rose by more than expected to £17.8 billion last month. that's the highest december figure for four years, according to official data. the office for national statistics said public sector net borrowing was over £10 billion higher than the same month in 2023. the chief secretary to the treasury darrenjones this morning said the upcoming spending review would interrogate every line of government spending for the first time in 17 years. earnings season is in full swing in the us, with netflix reporting its results for the october to december quarter. and it would seem netflix is going from strength to strength with the streaming giant outperforming analysts expe

but if you go back a little further to the microsoft activision merger, that was actually opened injuly022 and didn't opine a final determination until november 2023, it was the last of all of the regulatory authorities to clear it. so really we've seen a regulatory authority which is probably excessively bureaucratic, and i presume what they're looking to do is accelerate decision—making in this going forward. figures just out show uk government borrowing rose to £17.8 billion last month. that's the highest december figure for four years, according to official data. the office for national statistics said public sector net borrowing was over £10 billion higher than the same month in 2023. the chief secretary to the treasury darrenjones this morning said the upcoming spending review would interrogate every line of government spending for the first time in 17 years. we will be across this at bbc news. the airline easyjet has this morning reported a smaller operating loss in the final quarter of 2024, as costs eased and holiday—makers travelled more over the christmas period. the loss cam

by the way, that's largest and microsoft's largest acquisition ever when it bought activision for $69 billion. over half of this capex will be spent in the united states. microsoft previously said half of capex goes to compute, meaning nvidia chips. also stuff like a.i., server apps, other equipment. the rest is just the land, the power, construction costs. a.i. is not a big business for microsoft. the company says it's on track to generate $10 billion in a.i. -related sales this year. if you're keeping score, microsoft planning to spend $80 billion to generate $10 billion in a.i. sales. still unclear how well copilot selling and microsoft has never disclosed figures for that, nor have they told us how much a.i. spending on the cloud. no whole numbers yep. investors have real concern over when all of this spending on a.i. capex will pay off. not just microsoft but other big tech companies as well. they can dial back spending if demand for a.i. slips, but for now, they can't meet all of the demand and the spending keeps going up. >> there is a back story and correct me if i'm wrong, mi

the end of regulation and consolidated edison in the new york stock exchange and charlton aria activision doing the honors at the nasdaq. the stocks closing out their best session since the day after the election. the bulls breathing a sigh of relief as bulls head in the right direction and banks kickoff on a high note and i'm jon fortt with morgan brennan. >> loretta mester gives

chair khan: microsoft-activision is still before the ninth circuit. bill: merger guidelines. 2010 guidelines had been around, but you and jonathan decided to take a fresh look. tell us what evolved from that process and to what degree there's been court acceptance and embrace of the merger guidelines. chair khan: this is a process we started quite early. i think we sent out the first rfi, request for information, december of 2021 posing a list of open-ended questions to the public. that informed our drafting around what should this next version look like. i think one of the most significant steps was even figuring out conceptually what should the scaffolding of the document even look like. when you open the 2023 merger guidelines, they look different than the 2010 guidelines, and figuring out what is the right way to put out what are ultimately analytical tools to aid enforcers during their investigations. so it took a bit to get that initial framing right. what we ultimately landed on, and jonathan was a fantastic thought partner in this, was how com

>> activision, microsoft. >> guy is so into this. >> what? you think there's any -- i put the ea -- >> i hope my parents are watching, by the way, i'm talking about video games. >> i am a nerd. i mean, put it out there. >> just not like that. >> were you playing dungeons and dragons? >> hundo. >> in costume? >> ea is the e in my gen-a.i. trade. is there any potential for m&a? you see take two out there -- >> that kind of evaporated after the take two deal buying zynga. we have not seen much, in fact, it's been kind of contracting. we've seen a lot of layoffs in the video game industry, we've seen a lot of changes elated to that kind of stuff. it's really kind of setting the stage here in order for this next stage of growth that's expected with the new nintendo console, with the launch of "gta" which is going to knock every record out of the park. you think we get excited when movies make a billion dollars in two, three weeks, this is going to do that in a couple of days. >> steve, thank you. >>> there's a lot more "fast money" to come. here's

the ftc fought activision merging with microsoft. would have probably fought pay corps because it's a rival of paychecks. this is an idea we're going to have to get used to. our colleague is going to have to chase down a lot of deals. there's a lot of deals that aren't going to happen, certainly on the griddle. why would paychex want to eliminate the ftc. well this ftc would love this. >> it might be a hallmark. of the next four years jim. the incoming president saying the story is wrong. that's a dynamic right out of 2017, isn't it? >> we're waiting for greg hayes, the retired ceo of united technologies talking about when he was born. it wasn't midnight, but he wasn't born yesterday. i see a piece that is very much in favor of governing right in. barclays talking about aerospace against defense. now defense is something i'm waiting for the president-elect to talk about because they recommend boeing, which is very interesting. they haven't recommended boeing in a long time. >> the 2-2-10. >> the cost of defense is something i think t

>> to me, whether it is linked in, or the partnership with active a.i., or activision, it is all donee could be better owners, and we could do things on the technology front, and on both sides, shareholders would benefit. we are open to anything that fit that criteria. fundamentally, we have to have the grant permission. we have to have a vision that we can be a better owner. for what did you say to the president? >> it was a great conversation with a.i. and energy, and the need for the united states to build out more energy structure and support. we talked about cyber. we had a broad range of topics. >> what you make of the number of technology ceos that have gone to mar-a-lago, or were at the inauguration, light upon the president, in better seats than son some of his cabinet members? for having a government that wants to talk to business leaders is always welcome. at the end of the day, we are better off. i'm not saying it needs to only be about business , at the same time, having an open dialogue on what we think, and having a progrowth agenda is a healthy thing. for what should t

bobby kotick of activision, he met him at the las vegas technology fair.to the venture. capital funds, they don't like him. i mean, he came in with a wodge of money and he bid up all the valuations, so they weren't very happy at him disrupting their party. >> i want to go. i want to go from the gambling man, which is an extraordinary book and i predict is going to be an extraordinary movie. at some point it says. >> who's going to play masha? >> we will see. it just jumps off the page. but i'm going to go back to another book of yours. it's one of my favorites called the powerful and the damned. and it's fascinating. when you got into the financial times, you were determined to make it more than a newspaper. you wanted to make it a media enterprise, and you were struggling then, not struggling then. you were you were struggling to push the culture along. then to say, we are moving into a new age and this is how we're going to do it. we're still moving into that new age. you look at what's happening at the times. you look at what your friend emma tucker is