So the UK cannot stop the takeover, but it can — of course — block Microsoft from carrying out any business in the UK — and that's, effectively, what's happening here?
Activision UK cannot be part of the purchase deal. This lowers the valuation. And stops activision from going along with the merger in the other countries.
Is this realistic? The government is heavily reliant on Windows as is much of their economy. It's hard to imagine them evicting Microsoft from the market.
Given time and effort it's possible. If such a move were to be done I'm sure every democratic country would be most displeased. Which would in turn, warrant them all the will in the world to completly reform their dependencies on Microsoft.
I don't see any reason as to why this couldn't happen, the EU has already demonstrated its concerns on relying too much in certain companies, and they don't have as much of a flagrant issue as the aforementioned agressive move would imply.
Microsoft is a large corporation, but the UK is the 6th biggest economic entity in the world. Microsoft is not even close to the economic and legal power of a country the UK's size. And if the EU acts in the same way, as seems likely, there is absolutely nothing Microsoft can do about it.
