Applications Software

In challenging Microsoft Corp.’s MSFT -0.36% $75 billion acquisition of Activision ATVI 0.60% Blizzard Inc., the Federal Trade Commission is building its marquee antitrust case of Chair Lina Khan’s tenure on expansive legal theories that haven’t prevailed in other recent cases. The lawsuit targets a so-called vertical merger that would combine Microsoft’s software, devices and cloud-computing business with Activision’s…

Microsoft, after earlier offering concessions to regulators, is prepared to defend its purchase of the “Call of Duty” publisher in court, Microsoft vice chairman and president, Brad Smith, said Thursday. Activision Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said the regulatory environment is focused on ideology and misconceptions. A fight with regulators could make the deal more trouble than it is worth for Microsoft, some Wall Street analysts said Friday. CFRA…

BOTH APPLE MUSIC AND SPOTIFY have catalogs of over 80 million songs, but for many music lovers, access to these giants’ seemingly limitless options hasn’t translated to more diversity in listening habits. Indeed, monotony tends to prevail. When an algorithm limits discovery, all roads seem to lead to Drake, Dua Lipa or whatever rut you’re in, even though these platforms upload new songs everyday. If you’re ready to break that musical…

The lawsuit sets the stage for a court challenge over the deal as Microsoft agreed as part of negotiations with the “Call of Duty” publisher to defend the acquisition against a government lawsuit. The law enforcement agency said the deal is illegal because it would give Microsoft the ability to control how consumers beyond users of its own Xbox consoles and subscription services access Activision’s games. The company could raise prices for people who don’t use Microsoft’s hardware to access the games, or even cut off…

The Federal Trade Commission Thursday sued Microsoft Corp. to block its planned $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc., ATVI -1.55% taking one of its biggest shots under the Biden administration at halting a merger of technology giants. The lawsuit sets the stage for a court challenge over the deal as Microsoft agreed as part of negotiations with Activision to defend the acquisition against a government lawsuit.…

Case in point is ChatGPT, a free AI chatbot that has probably been all over your social feeds lately. In need of homework help? “Who was George Washington Carver?” produces an answer worthy of Wikipedia. But it can get creative, too: “Write a movie script of a taco fighting a hot dog on the beach” generates a thrilling page of dialogue, humor and action worthy of YouTube, if not quite Netflix : Taco: “So you think you can take me, hot dog? You’re nothing but a processed meat product with no…

Tensions had been growing between Salesforce Inc.’s CRM -2.09% co-Chief Executives Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor over their responsibilities and how the business was run for months before the business-software provider said last week that Mr. Taylor would exit the role, people familiar with the executives said.Mr. Benioff, who is also co-founder, became frustrated about how Mr. Taylor was spending his time, the…

Case in point is ChatGPT, a free AI chatbot that has probably been all over your social feeds lately. In need of homework help? “Who was George Washington Carver?” produces an answer worthy of Wikipedia. But it can get creative, too: “Write a movie script of a taco fighting a hot dog on the beach” generates a thrilling page of dialogue, humor and action worthy of YouTube, if not quite Netflix: Taco: “So you think you can take me, hot dog? You’re nothing but a processed meat product with no flavor.” Hot Dog:…

Microsoft Corp. MSFT -2.03% pledged to give Nintendo Co. NTDOY 0.87% access to the popular “Call of Duty” games for a decade if its $75 billion deal to buy the game’s developer, Activision Blizzard Inc., ATVI -0.29% gets approved, the software giant’s latest move to head off possible American regulatory action to block the acquisition.…

Salesforce Inc. said Stewart Butterfield, the chief executive and co-founder of the messaging app Slack Technologies, plans to leave the company. The news of Mr. Butterfield’s departure comes after Salesforce said last week that co-CEO Bret Taylorwould depart the company in January, leaving Chairman Marc Benioff the sole CEO of the company he co-founded. Mr. Taylor was credited as the architect of Salesforce’s $27.7 billion purchase of Slack in 2020. Salesforce Inc. said Stewart…