Microsoft’s $75 Billion Deal for Activision Blizzard Rejected by U.K.

The U.K.’s antitrust watchdog rejected Microsoft Corp.’s $75 billion deal to buy game maker Activision Blizzard Inc., raising a high hurdle in the software giant’s attempt to win global approval of the deal.

The Competition and Markets Authority’s ruling, issued Wednesday, said Microsoft had failed to convince it that undertakings it had proposed since announcing the deal would sufficiently ease the regulator’s competition worries. The CMA has said the deal poses a competition threat to the U.K.’s gaming industry and has been reviewing it for months.