Microsoft's Activision Blizzard takeover sparked by both companies failing to buy TikTok, Kotick says"If the deal doesn't get done, we should sit down and talk."Image credit: Activision / TikTok / Eurogamer News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief Published on Feb. 12, 2025 Former Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick has shared the conversation he had with Microsoft boss Satya Nadella that would later lead to Xbox buying the Call of Duty maker for $67.8bn.Speaking on the Grit podcast, Kotick recalled being involved in discussions around the sale of TikTok during US president Trump's first administration, back in 2020.At the time, Kotick was himself interested in a bid to buy the smartphone social media giant. But, as has been widely reported, Microsoft was the frontrunner."Trump administration 1, they banned TikTok," Kotick said. "Microsoft was the only bidder. "I know the founder of ByteDance [Zhang Yiming] pretty well, he's a great guy... So I called Yiming and I said 'would you rather have Microsoft or rather have me?' He said 'I'd probably rather have you'."Seemingly aware that even his pockets weren't big enough to outbid Microsoft, Kotick claims he floated an alternative option - that he and the Xbox owner share ownership of TikTok."I said it may be tough to pull it all together and I don't know that I have all the resources to do what will need to be done," Kotick continued. "Like, we don't have top secret security clearances with the government, I don't know what the National Security issues are going to be."According to Kotick, Yiming said he should discuss the matter with Microsoft boss Satya Nadella. And it was during that next phone call that the idea of Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard was floated."So I called Satya and I said 'I don't want to bid against you, it would be great if we were partners in this, I think we're more of a consumer company than you are and I think I know a little bit more about social media than you do. We should do this together'," Kotick said."[Nadella] said 'look, we're further ahead than you, I don't even know if this deal is going to get done, I don't need a partner in this one'. And [then] he said, 'but if the deal doesn't get done, we should sit down and talk about us buying Activision."And the rest is history: Microsoft did not buy TikTok at the time, but did eventually buy Activision Blizzard, after a lengthy anti-competition process.Roll forward five years, and TikTok is once again banned, and Microsoft is once again the frontrunner to purchase it.But has Kotick given up his goal to own a piece of TikTok? When asked, the former CEO suggested he was not able to disclose the current situation: "I can't really talk about it," he concluded.Kotick's wide-ranging interview also includes the eyebrow-raising claim by him that the various harassment lawsuits Activision Blizzard faced were "fake" and simply a "plan" to drive up union membership.