Good morning.Microsoft has agreed Activision Blizzard to buy video game maker for $75 billion in the tech company’s biggest-ever deal.

Under the terms of the all-cash deal, Microsoft will pay the company’s shareholders behind it call of Duty and World of Warcraft $95 per share, a 45% premium to last week’s closing price.

The purchase price includes Activision’s $6.37 billion in net cash, valuing the company at $68.7 billion.

It’s the latest in a wave of deals in the gaming industry. Take-Two Interactive, the maker of the popular Grand Theft Auto The gaming series, which last week agreed to buy rival Zynga, farmville and words with friends, $12.7 billion.

The video game industry has taken center stage in the recent battle for dominance in digital entertainment. Microsoft said the Activision acquisition would propel it into virtual worlds, the name for the immersive virtual worlds that big tech companies are racing to build.

Thank you for reading FirstFT Asia. Here’s the rest of the news today – Angelica.

Five more stories in the news

1. Goldman Sachs profit falls 13% after huge bonus payout The Wall Street bank paid out $3.2 billion in bonuses, overall payroll costs rose 33%, while its Revenue fell 7%. Despite lower-than-expected earnings, full-year 2021 net profit of $21.2b was the highest in the bank’s history.

2. The former president of Kazakhstan appeared again to deliver a televised speech Nursultan Nazarbayev First surfaced yesterday Since deadly protests erupted more than two weeks ago, he said he was staying in the capital and denied rumours of a power conflict with his chosen successor, Kasim-Jomart Tokayev.

3. AT&T and Verizon limit 5G service near U.S. airports after airline outcry Telcos have agreed curtail or delay their debut The advent of high-speed 5G technology comes after the aviation industry issued a last-hour warning that it could interfere with aircraft safety and navigation systems.

4. Tech billionaire strikes deal with Spac amid Uyghur dispute Spac, backed by tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya, has agreed to merge with a kidney disease-focused healthcare company for $825 million.The move comes after Palihapitiya arouse controversy Saying “Nobody Cares” to Uyghurs in China.

5. The Bank of Japan revises its inflation forecast for the first time since 2014 Bank of Japan Raises inflation forecast to 1.1% from 0.9% The yen was lower for the fiscal year that began in April, as a country that has been battling deflation for decades faces pressure from higher food and energy prices.

coronavirus digest

• Hongkong More than 1,000 hamsters will be culled and quarantine more than 150 pet store visitors extremely cautious Animal-to-human transmission is suspected.

• humanitarian aid efforts Tonga After the volcano erupted become complicated Because of this South Pacific nation’s determination to stop Covid-19.

• Coronavirus disease local won’t be painless, argues Science Reviewer Anjana Ahuja.

• Countries with high exposure to Omicron variants are record number of Children hospitalized with coronavirus, Serious cases among young people are rare, although health experts stress.

the day ahead

Bank of America Earnings Morgan Stanley and Bank of America will report their fourth quarter earnings today.

EU Presidency French President Emmanuel Macron to address the European Parliament today After the French presidency Council of the European Union.

Ukrainian tensions U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is Meeting with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky after talks between the US, Russia and NATO reached a “dead end” last week.

what are we still reading

Facebook patent reveals how it intends to profit from Metaverse Pupil movements, body postures and nose kneading are flickerings of human expression that Meta wants to reap in building its metaverse, a task that is essentially “Global Human Cloning Project.‘

What we know about Evergrande’s “black box” restructuring The crisis at Evergrande, the world’s most indebted real estate company, reached a milestone in December when it officially defaulted after months of missed payments. The rest of the saga could take years to unfold. Here’s what we know.

Moscow sanctions prove efforts to undercut Western threat Moscow’s “fortress Russia” strategy may lead to US and European sanctions Less deterrent to invasion of UkraineHowever, the EU has not reduced its reliance on Russian gas, leaving Moscow potentially retaliating by restricting supply.

Patriotic Gen Z fuels China’s popular jewelry craze Gen Z is leading the growth in jewelry retail sales, leveraging their Willing to spend big on “Chinese fashion” Feeding this $69 billion industry.

Business leaders must play a better political role Like it or not, business leaders are powerful players in our fragile democracy, and they need to play that role with dignity and responsibility, Martin Wolf writes.

books

Now that the headlines from last year’s COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow have faded, you might think the focus on planetary destruction has shifted.Not so in the publishing world, where 2022 has begun, and environmental books are fascinating From the polar vortex to veganism and of course global warming.