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Mellow Seas posted:Worth noting that although we consider Florida to be a complete irredeemable disaster Biden only lost there by 3.5 points. A large part of DeSantis' dominating win is the his opponent was Charlie Crist. 5 people voted for Charlie Crist, everyone else was voting for the "most electable" candidate in the primary.
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# ? Jul 10, 2023 23:05 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 12:27 |
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Chic Fil A owners?
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 00:14 |
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Tommy Tuberville continues to hold up military promotion nominations, now leaving the Marine Corps technically without a commandant. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/politics/marine-corps-tuberville-nominations-hold/index.html CNN posted:A major branch of the US military does not have a Senate confirmed leader for the first time in more than a century, as a result of a Republican senator refusing to lift his block on military nominations. Is there any way to tell Tuberville to gently caress off or is it just a matter of finally losing patience and rewriting Senate rules?
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 00:15 |
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Surely they must have deputy or acting commandants for the Marines, or Austin the power to order Berger to not resign, if the Marines can't fight for right and freedom and to keep their honor clean. Speaking of Marines: quote:A 14-year-old girl who was reported missing from her Spring Valley home last month is back home after she was found at Camp Pendleton, authorities said today, while a Marine has reportedly been taken into custody in the case, which is being investigated by human trafficking authorities.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 00:22 |
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Willa Rogers posted:Surely they must have deputy or acting commandants for the Marines, or Austin the power to order Berger to not resign, if the Marines can't fight for right and freedom and to keep their honor clean. The assistant commander was to be promoted and will be acting as full commandant, but until he's formally promoted he can't have his own assistant commandant as he's occupying the position already.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 00:29 |
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Kammat posted:
That would be rude, so I very much doubt the Democratic senate majority will do so.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 00:33 |
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Kammat posted:The assistant commander was to be promoted and will be acting as full commandant, but until he's formally promoted he can't have his own assistant commandant as he's occupying the position already. Can't they just make a stuckee the "Senior Official Performing the Duties of Asst. Commandant" or some such.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 02:15 |
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Kammat posted:
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 02:42 |
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I've not got time atm to provide a full summary, but... the GOP had claimed to have a witness who was supposed to corroborate the Hunter Biden laptop poo poo, but who was oddly unavailable. This guy, Gal Luft, released a video to the New York Post a couple days ago saying he had been arrested to prevent him from testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Biden corruption, and was on the run. The FBI just revealed the actual basis for his arrest. quote:Gal Luft, a Dual U.S.-Israeli Citizen, Allegedly Evaded FARA Registration While Working to Advance the Interests of China in the United States and Sought to Broker the Illicit Sales of Chinese-Manufactured Weapons and Iranian Oil to China Luft's think tank is the very serious, very legitimate Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, here. Even better, he appears to have a twitter account and is tweeting through his international manhunt, here. There's a pinned link to send him money. I do not recommend doing so. It should be pretty straightforward to identify Individual-1 from the charges. Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Jul 11, 2023 |
# ? Jul 11, 2023 02:46 |
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Kammat posted:Tommy Tuberville continues to hold up military promotion nominations, now leaving the Marine Corps technically without a commandant. They could just move things forward via normal votes. He's not actually blocking these promotions, he's just blocking the expedited fast-track processes that can only be used if literally the entire Senate agrees to use them. It might take a while to move a hundred-plus promotions through normal Senate processes, but a few of them shouldn't be a huge deal. And it's not like the Senate's busy with actual legislation right now.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 02:49 |
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Tuberville on an interesting roll today. - Says the military is discriminating against white people who have "white nationalist beliefs." - Says that racism is bad, but white nationalists have "varying beliefs" and they aren't all the same. So it is wrong to flatly make white nationalism punishable. - The host says that white nationalism is explicitly racist and Tuberville says "that's your opinion." - He thinks "most white people" are white nationalists and that white nationalism is not inherently racist. https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1678579897709518849 Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Jul 11, 2023 |
# ? Jul 11, 2023 03:01 |
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Willa Rogers posted:Surely they must have deputy or acting commandants for the Marines, or Austin the power to order Berger to not resign, if the Marines can't fight for right and freedom and to keep their honor clean. Any chance it’s his daughter and it’s a custody thing?
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 03:02 |
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Shrecknet posted:it makes perfect sense that a guy who lost by 20 to Vanderbilt and lost to an unranked UConn would be the one to fail to provide for our nation's defense What do you anticipate will threaten our nation's defense as a consequence of non-confirmation for the time being?
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 03:05 |
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Fork of Unknown Origins posted:Any chance it’s his daughter and it’s a custody thing? He's been released from custody so who knows.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 03:08 |
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Willa Rogers posted:What do you anticipate will threaten our nation's defense as a consequence of non-confirmation for the time being? It's a football joke.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 03:13 |
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Tuberville on an interesting roll today. Ah yes. Openly defending white nationalism. I don’t imagine it’ll hurt him where he’s from. But it should hopefully cause a stir.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 03:30 |
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I'd like to imagine Tuberville thinks there is a comma in the term "white nationalist".
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 06:10 |
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Any time Tuberville does or says anything just remember he took another coaching job quite literally in the middle of meeting a recruit and their family at dinner. Went to the restroom, climbed out a window, and ghosted them. And now he's a U.S. Senator. And this is nothing in the annals of Senatorial depravity, but it's still lame and funny as gently caress.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 12:55 |
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Edward Mass posted:I'd like to imagine Tuberville thinks there is a comma in the term "white nationalist". white nationalist? white, nationalist!
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 13:09 |
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Judgy Fucker posted:Any time Tuberville does or says anything just remember he took another coaching job quite literally in the middle of meeting a recruit and their family at dinner. Went to the restroom, climbed out a window, and ghosted them. Who amongst us could have more integrity than Nick Saban? Let them cast the first stone against Tuberville.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 13:13 |
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Mellow Seas posted:Yeah, even though it's The Opposite of True I can kind of cut people some slack on that one - because people might have been thinking of "decrease inflation" to mean "address the problems I'm having with inflation," and if you're doing that then cutting your taxes would give you more money so technically it would be helping in the short term.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 13:37 |
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Bud Light being boycotted by all angles over their partnership with a trans influencer seems to be hitting them pretty hard. This is the rare boycott where a lot of people seem to be participating and sticking with it. They are technically getting boycotted by all sides over this, but the vast majority is from conservatives over the trans influencer and not the counter boycott over them not supporting the influencer. It's kind of depressing and amazing at the same time that one of the few organized boycotts that actually seemed to work because people were committed to sticking to it was over an online ad where a trans person just existed. Americans couldn't/wouldn't stick to boycotts over environmental issues, labor issues, scams, problematic CEOs, or unethical supply chain issues, but this is where there are enough people motivated to hold the line. Bud light was previously the #1 selling beer in America. quote:Bud Light Plummets To 14th Place Among Beers As Anheuser-Busch CEO Pleads For Consumers To Think Of The 65,000 Employees Impacted By Boycotts https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bud-light-plummets-14th-place-210130892.html
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:16 |
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I guess Bud Light: - tastes like nothing so is easily replaced - has lots of competitors at same price point available at the same places - actually had a huge chud market in the first place A combo of factors not found in most chud "boycotts". Pretty funny that they're only boycotting the Light version of one beer, and not other products from the giant conglomerate. I'm boycotting Bud Light Orange, for different reasons
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:31 |
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Bud Light being boycotted by all angles over their partnership with a trans influencer seems to be hitting them pretty hard. This is the rare boycott where a lot of people seem to be participating and sticking with it. Trying to pivot from your customer base of working class rednecks to upper middle class white liberals over a cheap lovely beer that only the former would drink is monumentally stupid, and i'm not surprised that a wealthy harvard educated marketing vp would be this out of touch. It didn't happen in a vacuum though, i imagine most conservatives are upset at having no cultural influence in any important institution of note, and it sort of boiled over.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:36 |
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I'm curious how much of a change this actually is, exactly how much quantity sold separates the #1 beer from the #2 beer from the #14 beer?
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:36 |
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zoux posted:Someone was asking last week why finding a random bag of cocaine in a visitors' area of the WH was getting so much coverage.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:37 |
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haveblue posted:I'm curious how much of a change this actually is, exactly how much quantity sold separates the #1 beer from the #2 beer from the #14 beer? While I don't have a direct answer, the sales slump seems major, not just a few percent. A quick google found this in an article: "Bud Light sales are reportedly down almost 30% from last June and the brand "is showing no signs of rebounding from its slump," according to a MoneyWatch report. " I can't find the actual report though.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:43 |
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I imagine the boycott got several lifelong bud drinkers to expand their horizons and try anything else and realize how much better it is.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:45 |
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Mister Fister posted:Trying to pivot from your customer base of working class rednecks to upper middle class white liberals over a cheap lovely beer that only the former would drink is monumentally stupid, and i'm not surprised that a wealthy harvard educated marketing vp would be this out of touch. It didn't happen in a vacuum though, i imagine most conservatives are upset at having no cultural influence in any important institution of note, and it sort of boiled over. I don't believe they tried to pivot, they viewed themselves as the coke of beers and just advertised with everyone. The thing that kicked this off as I understand it was just them sending a swag bag to some trans instagram person, who a month later some right wingers found a working hook in. Bud probably sent out hundreds of those things to different influencers and them then walking back that support to try and cater to the hate groups just managed to piss off a bunch of liberals on top of it. So they just managed to piss off everyone and their biggest audience of I just want to loving grill man types don't want to deal with either, bought some coronas and high life instead. Kalli fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Jul 11, 2023 |
# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:46 |
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The Bud Light boycott was primed to succeed once it got started. It's easy to replace and the only reason people drink it as there first choice is because it was the first light beer they were used to picking up and that's what they drink. I think it's also because beer is a party drink. I would imagine people give their friends and acquaintances a hard time if they buy Bud Light, so even if you don't really care you just switch in areas where a bunch of people are switching beers. Once Miller Light or Coors Light becomes the standard it's what people are going to buy without thinking about it, like Bud Light was in these communities that are boycotting it now. Edit: Bud Light misunderstood what it was too and who drank it. Like Kalli said, they thought they were a generic "coke of beers." But I don't really think that exists in the beer world and they managed to make there main costumer base mad. gurragadon fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Jul 11, 2023 |
# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:48 |
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As someone who lives squarely in Labatt-controlled territory, this whole thing is simultaneously amusing and depressing.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:52 |
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socialsecurity posted:I imagine the boycott got several lifelong bud drinkers to expand their horizons and try anything else and realize how much better it is. Or another macro and realize it’s the same, and since the best predictor for the next case of beer you buy is the last case of beer you bought… For whatever it’s worth my chud in-laws are back to bud light. I think they’ll eventually rebound but it may be a while. Also it goes without saying but it’s incredibly gross that a trans person existing is a political issue.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:54 |
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Failed Imagineer posted:I guess Bud Light: Yeah, the article doesn't mention how AB is performing as a whole. I imagine they're doing just fine, as a lot of the boycotters have probably switched to other AB beers. It's also really impressive how quickly and effectively the right wing reality warping machine worked on this, and how far it extended to "normal" people who aren't terminally online. It completely penetrated the public consciousness and convinced people that this was a massive push campaign and Mulvaney's face was on every single can or something like that.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:58 |
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Bud Light being boycotted by all angles over their partnership with a trans influencer seems to be hitting them pretty hard. This is the rare boycott where a lot of people seem to be participating and sticking with it. Is it really that surprising? The right-wing media's ability to invent a controversy about nothing and get watchers mad enough to take actual action has already been demonstrated plenty of times. It doesn't really matter what the issue is. And "buy a different brand of cheap mainstream beer" isn't exactly a massive lifestyle change - it's certainly less difficult than rearranging your investment portfolio to exclude ESG companies or setting up a coal-rolling rig to spite Big Environmentalism. Additionally, the fact that they alienated both sides is very here, because when one side boycotts a product over a stance the company took, the impact of the boycott is usually offset by increased sales to the other side of the issue. If Anheuser-Busch had stuck to their guns on the ad campaign, then it probably would have ended up being far more effective than most pinkwashing campaigns, as a willingness to stand by LGBTQ folks in the face of a loud far-right backlash probably would have drawn a fair amount of support from LGBTQ communities and allies, leading to a sales bump that would have countered this boycott at least to some extent. Instead, they immediately walked back their position and tried to both-sides it, completely torching any goodwill the original campaign might have bought them and leaving everyone pissed off.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 15:59 |
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I am more saddened that the whole Bud Light controversy will basically be more justification for corporate decisionmaking to buckle as quickly as possible in the face of any conservative right wing agitation. InBev's reaction to the controversy appears to be a case study in decisionmaking failure, but it's going to be read as some more general statement about American consumers and that's just depressing.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 16:22 |
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Kalli posted:I don't believe they tried to pivot, they viewed themselves as the coke of beers and just advertised with everyone. The thing that kicked this off as I understand it was just them sending a swag bag to some trans instagram person, who a month later some right wingers found a working hook in. Bud probably sent out hundreds of those things to different influencers and them then walking back that support to try and cater to the hate groups just managed to piss off a bunch of liberals on top of it. So they just managed to piss off everyone and their biggest audience of I just want to loving grill man types don't want to deal with either, bought some coronas and high life instead. The VP in question did an interview in which she said that Bud Light's sales were in a slump (or not growing, i forgot which) and she explicitly stated she wanted to reach a new younger, inclusive customer base and move away from the 'fratty' image of the beer, in response to the initial controversy.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 16:27 |
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Mister Fister posted:The VP in question did an interview in which she said that Bud Light's sales were in a slump (or not growing, i forgot which) and she explicitly stated she wanted to reach a new younger, inclusive customer base and move away from the 'fratty' image of the beer, in response to the initial controversy. https://www.thestreet.com/restaurants/some-bud-light-drinkers-are-angry-but-not-for-the-reason-you-think quote:“We had this hangover, I mean Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach,” she said. https://ninesliving.com/make-yourself-at-home-podcast-alissa-heinerscheid-bud-light/ The podcast is still up. I guess it will never come down now. I don't think anything she said was that off, but I'm not a person who loved Bud Light either.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 16:35 |
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Sorry for the double-post, but I noticed that Leon's link only talks about whether a brand is "beloved." I know this story's a little old (i.e., early June), but it still sounds like InBev sells a lot of Bud Light. They're not selling as much as they used to, though. https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/06/business/bud-light-sales-update/index.html quote:Still, Bud Light remains the top-selling beer in America, according to NIQ data provided to CNN by Williams. NIQ measures sales at convenience, liquor and grocery stores across the United States. Bud Light has made up 35.1% of domestic beer sales this year (through May 27), according to NIQ. That easily beats No. 2 Coors Light, which controls 21.6% of the market. And another more recent story... https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/07/10/bud-light-sales-lose-modelo-especial-second-consecutive-month/70398376007/ quote:For the four weeks ending July 1, Modelo Especial took 8.7% of overall beer sales through retail stores while Bud Light came in second with a 7% share, according to an analysis of Nielsen data from consulting firm Bump Williams. Michelob Ultra came in third (6.7%), followed by Coors Light (6.1%) and Miller Lite (5.1%). I guess we'll see how long this sticks, but InBev definitely didn't handle this properly. I wonder how Bud Light sales trends have been long term since their marketing team were under the impression that the brand was already "in decline" even before the controversy. Eric Cantonese fucked around with this message at 16:43 on Jul 11, 2023 |
# ? Jul 11, 2023 16:39 |
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Kalli posted:I don't believe they tried to pivot, they viewed themselves as the coke of beers and just advertised with everyone. The thing that kicked this off as I understand it was just them sending a swag bag to some trans instagram person, who a month later some right wingers found a working hook in. Bud probably sent out hundreds of those things to different influencers and them then walking back that support to try and cater to the hate groups just managed to piss off a bunch of liberals on top of it. So they just managed to piss off everyone and their biggest audience of I just want to loving grill man types don't want to deal with either, bought some coronas and high life instead. Nah, she has said they hired her as an influencer, and that she's hurting financially bc of the blowback. Gay bars in Chicago were also boycotting Bud Light bc of the pullback, and Target as well as Starbucks have experienced two-sided direct actions as well. As Main Painframe said, it's not surprising that pinkwashing has a boomerang effect when corps. try to please both sides rather than taking stances.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 16:41 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 12:27 |
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The E.U. had dropped their opposition and approved the merger. The U.S. was the only major market fighting the merger and it basically hinged entirely on this court case. The FTC lost the case. The main point of contention was the importance of "cloud gaming." The E.U. approved the merger after hearing arguments about how small of a section of the video game industry cloud gaming currently occupies. The U.S. argued that even though cloud gaming was tiny right now, that this would give Microsoft an effective monopoly on the tiny section of the industry and could result in less innovation or competition. The judge did not agree that the merger was worth blocking over that. The FTC also made other arguments about the damage to consumers from Microsoft pulling popular titles like Call of Duty from competitor systems, but Microsoft made a deal guaranteeing that Call of Duty would remain on PlayStation and argued that there was no harm if they guaranteed that nothing would change on that front. This will be the largest consumer tech merger since AOL-Time Warner in 2000. https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1678789166371426305 quote:A federal judge on Tuesday ruled against the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to delay Microsoft’s $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, setting the stage for the tech giant and the video game publisher to merge as soon as this month.
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# ? Jul 11, 2023 16:43 |