Microsoft, Activision extend deal deadline until Oct. 18 (update)
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Update 11:25am: Adds shares, updates with Activision CEO comment. 
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) extended the deadline for the planned $69 billion acquisition of the videogame maker until Oct. 18. Activision fell 0.6%.
The companies extended the deadline after the original deal termination deadline expired on Tuesday, according to a 8-K filing. Under the extended agreement, the termination fee is increased to $3.5 billlion from $3 billion after Aug. 29 and to $4.5 billion after Sept. 15.
The merger agreement enables the company to declare and pay one regular cash dividend for fiscal year 2023 of up to $0.99 per share, prior to and not contingent on the closing of the transaction. The dividend is payable Aug. 17, for shareholders of record Aug. 2; ex-div Aug. 1.
The extension comes as the parties are awating the UK's antitrust authority, which originally blocked the deal in April, though has now paused its suit while it works with the companies on a possible settlement.
"I think there is a good faith effort to actually move quickly," Activsion CEO Bobby Kotick sold CNBC in an interview. 
When asked if the deal could close in the next 45 days, Kotick responded that he "didn't see any reason why it shouldn't be able to happen that quickly, but it's hard to know."
The UK is the only major jurisdiction standing between Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Activision Blizzard (ATVI) after the Federal Trade Commission last week was tharwted in its efforts to block the deal after a federal judge and an appeals court denied a preliminary injunction to stop the transaction. 
"We will honor all commitments agreed upon with the EC and other regulators and continue to work with the CMA on the issues raised in the UK," Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in a tweet on Wednesday. "We are confident about our prospects for getting this deal across the finish line."
The extension agreement also includes a clause that the companies may seek an agreement with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority to hold separate Activision (ATVI) or certain assets of Activision to be able to consummate the deal. 
The new agreement also includes amendments to Activision Blizzardâs commercial Xbox arrangements with Microsoft, valued at up to $250 million for each of fiscal years 2023 and 2024, according to a statement. 
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