CMA director who blocked Microsoft-ActiBlizzard merger, formerly of law firm Sony

In April, the UK Competition and Markets Authority did not approve the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.

Patent lawyer Florian Müller discovered that the current senior director of the CMA, Colin Raftery, was formerly of Cleary Gottlieb. This law firm represented Sony in their protest against the deal.

Moreover, Mueller said that, judging by the words of a “famous” news agency, Rafreti was a central figure in blocking the deal.

Raftery had not previously worked for Cleary for some time and still maintains personal relationships with old acquaintances and friends, which may indicate partiality.

Previously, Raftery was instrumental in blocking the merger of two of the UK’s largest supermarket chains, ASDA and Sainsbury’s. But few people know that Raftery also served as legal adviser to Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket chain, which had doubts about the merger.