Microsoft acquisition of Nuance being investigated by U.K. watchdog
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Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) planned acquisition of Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN) is being formally investigated by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority to determine whether it will hamper competition in the U.K.
"The deadline for the CMA to announce its decision whether to refer the Merger for a Phase 2 investigation is therefore 9 March 2022," the CMA wrote in its notice on Wednesday.

The CMA first said last month that it was looking into the purchase because of concerns that it could result in a "substantial lessening of competition" in the U.K. market. It invited comments on the transaction until January 10, 2022.
Microsoft (MSFT) shares are up nearly 0.5% in pre-market trading to $316.49, while Nuance (NUAN) edged higher.
Nuance, which helped build Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) Siri virtual assistant, will allow the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant to expand into cloud services for healthcare. The Nuance (NUAN) deal would be Microsoft's (MSFT) second largest, following its $26.2 billion deal for LinkedIn.
A few days later, Microsoft (MSFT) was granted approval by the European Commission for its $16 billion acquisition of speech recognition and artificial intelligence software company Nuance Communications (NUAN).
In June, Microsoft (MSFT) received U.S. antitrust approval for its planned purchase of Nuance Communications (NUAN).
Investment firm Jefferies recently predicted that Microsoft (MSFT) would hit $400 per share in 2022.