What Microsoft’s $69 Billion Gaming Bet Means For The Metaverse | Edge Computing’s Coming M&A Boom | USAA’s New CIO | And More

Plus: Top CEOs Share Surprising Leadership Tips Of 2021

Hi there, and welcome to the latest edition of the Forbes CIO newsletter.

It had long been rumored that Microsoft had a massive crush on the maker of the wildly popular Candy Crush and other bestselling video games such as World of Warcraft. Its decision to bid $68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard this week showed the crush had turned into a full-blown obsession.

Why spend such a whopping amount of money on a company that has been rocked by a controversy over sexual misconduct allegations that has seen 37 employees exit the company (a statistic revealed by Activision Blizzard in a statement to the Wall Street Journal just a day before the deal was announced)?

The short answer is that the deal is set to make Microsoft an even bigger player amongst the global audience of video game players. Assuming regulators don’t scupper its bid, the software company will add Activision to its Xbox gaming empire, transforming it into the third-biggest gaming giant after Tencent and Sony.

But there’s a subtext to this deal too, and that is its implications for the emerging technologies being lumped together under the banner of “the metaverse.” Bestselling video games use a host of different techniques to create deeply immersive experiences, so some of that knowhow will be extremely helpful in the race to accumulate relevant patents.

It’s not just Microsoft that stands to benefit in this respect from the Activision deal. As my Forbes colleague Abram Brown points out here, Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) will also be rooting hard for Microsoft to close the transaction. By painting it as a metaverse play, Meta will hope the combination will give it air cover to pursue its own metaverse-related deals at a time when tech companies’ M&A activity is under intense scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers.

Thanks for reading, and do let me know if you have any suggestions for themes to cover in future issues. You can contact me on Twitter here and LinkedIn here.

Technology & Innovation

5G’s bumpy takeoff in America: Some airlines canceled flights this week over concerns that 5G base stations near airports in the U.S. could interfere with aircraft communications. The president of Emirates didn’t mince his words, telling CNN that the rollout of the next-gen tech in America was “one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible” moves he had seen in his aviation career.

Multibillion-dollar digital signatures: Docusign and Adobe have long dominated the world of digital business contracts, but now they face growing competition in the field from startups such as Ironclad, which recently raised $150 million at a $3.2 billion valuation. Now that’s what I call a very good sign!

Leadership & Strategy

How companies are dealing with vaccine mandates: A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has thrown plans for imposing mandates into disarray. Some companies are ditching them while others have vowed to press ahead. It can be helpful to know the state of play if this issue comes up in your team discussions.

Advancing gender equality in tech: While more women are now in prominent roles in corporate IT—see our CIO Profile below for a great example!—there’s still much work to be done to help female leaders advance their careers. Forbes CIO Network contributor Judith Spitz highlights here some important steps executives can take to help speed change.

Talent & Careers

Choosing your avatar for virtual meetings: As businesses move deeper into a hybrid work world, selecting an avatar that you use to represent yourself in an immersive digital setting is going to become more important. Here are some helpful tips from Forbes CIO Network contributor David Rose on how to think about the right digital look for the workplace.

Mentorship programs can help win talent wars: You may not know this but it’s national mentoring month in the U.S. So it’s a great time to revisit your mentoring program or to launch one from scratch. Structuring these offerings well is a challenge in a hybrid work world, but the most effective ones can help stop top talent from leaving.

"I’ve admired USAA for its accomplishments in technology throughout my career…It’s my honor to serve the military community as well as our 37,000 employees worldwide."

Amala Duggirala

Enterprise CIO, USAA

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