On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that it was purchasing Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. The deal has caused shock waves across the gaming industry and the stock market. For example, Sony's market value dropped around $20 billion a day after the news broke. Even the World Bank had to share its opinion of the massive deal, in a somewhat unorthodox move.
According to a report by Reuters, World Bank President David Malpass criticized Microsoft's takeover of Activision Blizzard as a "questionable allocation of capital at a time when poor countries are struggling to restructure debts, fight COVID-19, and poverty." Malpass said the following at an online event.
You have to wonder: 'Wait a minute, is this the best allocation of capital?' This goes to the bond market. You know, a huge amount of capital flows are going to the bond market. A very small portion of the developing world has access to such bond financing, while too much capital remains bottled up in advanced countries, especially in central bank reserve assets used to back long-term bond purchases ... In order to address the refugee flow, that malnutrition that's going on, and so on, there has to be more money and growth flowing into the developing countries.
Malpass criticized the financial structure of developed nations, but failed to call out the countries that aren't contributing enough to the World Bank. Keep in mind that it's not Microsoft's responsibility to donate to the World Bank.
Based on the entire conversation, it seems like Malpass wants corporations like Microsoft to invest in the developing world instead of spending tens of billions on acquiring other companies.
What do you think of Malpass' comparison? Let us know in the comments below.
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