#corporate christmas party

[londonchristmasvenues]

Top 10 Corporate Christmas Party Venues in London

Celebrate the season of giving and success with a memorable corporate Christmas party in London. With a wide range of top-notch venues to choose from, you can create the perfect festive atmosphere to show your appreciation for your hard-working team. Spread joy and cheer this holiday season with these top 10 London corporate christmas party venues!

[tasteofpunjab]

Host Your Corporate Christmas Party at Taste of Punjab

Elevate your corporate Christmas party at Taste of Punjab. Versatile spaces, tailored packages, and exquisite cuisine for a festive celebration like no other.

[wellourgerdes]

Corporate Event Chauffeur Hire

2023 SUMMER EVENTS The summer of 2023 will be one to remember, from the Rocket Man at Worthy Farm to Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone. It gives us great pleasure to highlight some of the fantastic British activities taking place this summer. To avoid disappointment, make your chauffeur reservation right away. 20-24 JUNE Royal Ascot, Ascot Racecourse 21-25 JUNE Glastonbury Festival, Worthy…

[hanfocus]

HAN ♡ 'NOVEL' VERTICAL MUSIC VIDEO

[unreliablesnake]

WHO THE FUCK THINKS IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO HOLD THE COMPANY'S CHRISTMAS PARTY FOR EMPLOYEES ON DECEMBER 22?

I should be baking cookies after work. What the fuck.

[greenfieldpartyvenues]

Corporate Event Venue

Maximizing Impact: How Professional Venues Can Enhance Your Corporate Event!

When planning a corporate event, one of the most crucial decisions you'll make is choosing the right venue. The Corporate event venue sets the stage for your event and can significantly impact its success. 

While you might be tempted to cut costs and host your event in-house or at a basic location, opting for a professional venue can elevate your event to new heights. 

In this blog, we'll explore how profession

Impressive First Impressions

al venues can enhance your corporate event, making it a memorable and impactful experience for your guests.

The saying, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression," holds true for corporate events. When your guests arrive at a professional venue, they are immediately greeted by an atmosphere of sophistication and professionalism. 

Grand entrances, well-designed reception areas, and courteous staff set the tone for the event, making your guests feel special and valued. This positive first impression can significantly influence their perception of your company and the event.

State-of-the-Art Technology

Professional venues are equipped with the latest technology and audio-visual equipment. Whether you need to deliver a compelling presentation, showcase a product, or host interactive workshops, these venues are well-prepared. 

High-quality sound systems, projectors, screens, and lighting ensure that your message is delivered effectively, leaving a lasting impact on your audience.

Flexible Spaces for Every Occasion

One of the key advantages of professional venues is their flexibility. These spaces are designed to accommodate various events, from small meetings to large conferences, workshops, product launches, and gala dinners. 

Their versatile layouts and well-thought-out floor plans can be customized to suit your specific needs, ensuring that your event is perfectly tailored to your objectives.

Expert Event Planning and Management

Professional venues often come with a team of experienced event planners and managers who are well-versed in orchestrating successful corporate events. 

They can assist you in every aspect of event planning, from designing the layout to coordinating catering and logistics. 

With their expertise, you can rest assured that your event will run smoothly, allowing you to focus on engaging with your attendees.

Custom Catering Options

The culinary experience at your corporate event can significantly impact your guests. Professional venues often have in-house catering services or established partnerships with renowned caterers. 

It ensures that you have access to a wide range of culinary options, from fine dining to casual fare, and can accommodate various dietary preferences. A well-prepared and beautifully presented meal can leave a lasting impression and add a touch of luxury to your event.

Endnote:

Selecting a professional venue for your corporate event is a strategic decision that can significantly enhance its impact. If you are looking for corporate party venues near me in Melbourne, Greenfields Albert Park is an excellent choice. 

With its stunning ambiance, top-notch facilities, and a team of experienced professionals, we can help you create an unforgettable corporate event. 

Our commitment to excellence and attention to detail will ensure that your event stands out and leaves a lasting impression on your guests.

Visit our website to check out our venue photos and get in touch with our team to start planning your next exceptional corporate event. Your success is our priority, and we look forward to making your event truly remarkable!

[hangmanapologist]

I need customers to stop bringing us in chocolates and alcohol bc we have sm that I’ve had to start gradually bringing stuff home every night

[ganisuk]

Best Indian Food Catering Company in Leicester

For over a decade, Ganis has been a leading provider of Indian food catering services in Leicester and the East Midlands. We are dedicated to preserving the authenticity and traditional flavours of Indian cuisine and bringing them to your special events and occasions. Our experienced team of chefs uses only the freshest ingredients and time-honoured recipes to create a menu that is both delicious and memorable.

Whether you're in the mood for classic dishes like biryani and butter chicken, or something new and exciting like paneer tikka and tandoori salmon, we have something for everyone. Our menu is designed to showcase the diversity of Indian cuisine, from original desi dishes to modern twists. We are passionate about creating a memorable dining experience for each and every one of our customers, and our team is dedicated to ensuring that every dish we serve is of the highest quality.

At Ganis, we take pride in our expertise in all types of Indian catering, from weddings and corporate events to intimate gatherings and dinner parties. Our commitment to using only the finest ingredients and preparation methods passed down through generations sets us apart from other catering services in the region. Whether you're looking for a caterer for your next event or simply craving the taste of authentic Indian cuisine, Ganis is the perfect choice.

For more information, Enquiry us at info@ganis.co.uk

[londonbellydance]

London samba dancers Brazilian performers party entertainment 

www.Entertainers.RedGlassSky.com

www.RedGlassSky.com

Wedding entertainment

Corporate events

[noisycowboyglitter]

Unwrap Laughter: Santa's Favorite Ho Matching Christmas Humor!

Santa's Favorite Ho Matching Christmas Funny Joke is a humorous and slightly risqué concept that plays on the dual meaning of "ho" - Santa's famous exclamation and a slang term with adult connotations. This idea typically manifests in matching outfits or accessories designed for couples or groups looking to add a dash of cheeky humor to their holiday celebrations.

Buy now:19.95$

The concept often features clothing items like t-shirts, sweaters, or pajamas with playful slogans. One person might wear an item labeled "Santa's Favorite Ho," while their partner dons a matching piece that says "Santa" or "I'm Santa." The joke relies on the contrast between the innocent, jolly image of Santa Claus and the more mature implications of the wordplay.

These matching sets are popular for adult Christmas parties, couple's photos, or as gag gifts among friends with a more irreverent sense of humor. They're designed to provoke laughter and lighten the mood during the often-stressful holiday season.

Buy now

It's important to note that this type of humor may not be suitable for all audiences or occasions. It's best reserved for adults and situations where such jokes are expected and appreciated. The concept walks a fine line between festive fun and potentially offensive content, so it should be used thoughtfully and in appropriate contexts.

For those who enjoy pushing the boundaries of traditional holiday decorum, Santa's Favorite Ho Matching Christmas Funny Joke offers a way to inject some adult-oriented humor into the festivities.

Bulk Christmas Gifts refer to large quantities of identical or similar items purchased together for holiday gift-giving purposes. This approach is popular for businesses, organizations, or individuals who need to provide gifts for many people at once.

Buy now

These gifts are often cost-effective and time-saving solutions for scenarios like corporate gift-giving, classroom treats, or large family gatherings. Common bulk gift options include ornaments, candles, gift cards, festive treats, or small electronics like power banks or earbuds.

Many retailers and online marketplaces offer special bulk pricing for holiday items, making it easier to find affordable options in large quantities. Some companies even provide customization services for bulk orders, allowing for personalized touches like company logos or names.

Buy now

While bulk gifts may lack the individual personalization of single purchases, they can still be thoughtful and appreciated when chosen carefully to suit the recipients' general interests or needs.

[greelin]

why’d my husband just send me a photo from his work christmas party being like “yeah we have a magician here rn.” what goes on in the corporate world

[the-arty-one]

Caricature Christmas Party Entertainment in Brighton

[taratarotgreene]

Happy Saturnalia December 17-24, original pagan Christmas

Happy 🪐 Saturnalia once again. Saturn is in Pisces from 2023-2025 accentuating an intoxicating, highly psychedelic magical luminal other worldly saturnalia, stirring ancient memories of these revelries celebrating the cycle of the sun infinitynow.wordpress.com/2021/12/17/saturnalia-sol-invictus-december-17-24-freedom-from-slavery/

[alloccasionc]

Unforgettable Christmas Party Cruise with Sydney Corporate Charters

The holiday season is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate than with a spectacular Christmas party cruise? Whether you're planning an intimate gathering with friends or a grand corporate event, Sydney Corporate Charters offers the perfect setting to create unforgettable memories. With their luxurious vessels and impeccable service, your Christmas celebration is guaranteed to be a resounding success. In this article, we will explore the exciting options available for both corporate Christmas cruises and private parties, as we delve into the magic of celebrating the festive season on the waters of Sydney.

The Enchanting World of Christmas Party Cruises

Imagine exchanging gifts and spreading cheer while cruising along Sydney's iconic harbor. A Christmas party cruise is a unique way to infuse the spirit of the season into your celebration. From beautifully decorated interiors to festive ambiance, these cruises promise an enchanting experience that your guests will cherish for years to come.

Sydney Corporate Charters provides a range of customizable options, ensuring that your Christmas party cruise perfectly aligns with your vision. Whether you desire an intimate gathering with close friends or a grand extravaganza for your office, the skilled event planners at Sydney Corporate Charters can bring your dream party to life.

Elevating Corporate Celebrations

For businesses, the holiday season offers a perfect opportunity to express gratitude to employees and clients alike. A corporate Christmas cruise is an ideal way to reward your hardworking staff while fostering a sense of camaraderie among colleagues. Sydney Corporate Charters specializes in tailoring corporate events, ensuring that every detail is meticulously planned to reflect your company's values.

Whether it's a formal sit-down dinner or a more relaxed cocktail-style event, these cruises provide versatile spaces to accommodate all your needs. The stunning backdrop of Sydney's harbor and iconic landmarks elevates the festive ambiance, setting the stage for a remarkable celebration.

Unparalleled Luxury and Facilities

One of the hallmarks of Sydney Corporate Charters is their fleet of luxurious vessels, designed to offer the utmost comfort and sophistication. Step aboard and indulge in a world of opulence as you sail across the glistening waters.

The vessels boast spacious decks, elegant lounges, and state-of-the-art amenities to ensure a seamless and enjoyable experience for all guests. From modern sound systems for entertainment to well-appointed dining areas, every detail is meticulously curated to provide unparalleled luxury.

Gourmet Delights to Satisfy Every Palate

No Christmas celebration is complete without a delectable feast. Sydney Corporate Charters takes pride in offering a diverse range of catering options to suit every palate. Their team of talented chefs can create a bespoke menu featuring a delightful selection of dishes, from traditional Christmas favorites to international cuisine. Whether you prefer a seated banquet or a sumptuous buffet, the culinary offerings are sure to impress even the most discerning food connoisseurs.

Captivating Entertainment and Activities

To keep the festive spirit alive, Sydney Corporate Charters can arrange a variety of entertainment options for your Christmas party cruise. Live bands, DJs, or even themed performers can be organized to ensure a lively atmosphere throughout the event. Additionally, the open decks offer ample space for activities such as dance floors, photo booths, and even Santa appearances for the little ones.

Safety and Professionalism

Sydney Corporate Charters prioritizes the safety and well-being of all guests. Their vessels are maintained to the highest standards and operated by experienced professionals who ensure a smooth and secure journey. You can rest assured that your Christmas party cruise will be a seamless experience from start to finish.

This holiday season, celebrate Christmas in style with a magical party cruise hosted by Sydney Corporate Charters. Whether it's a corporate gathering or a private event, their bespoke services, luxurious vessels, and attention to detail ensure an unforgettable experience for all. Embrace the festive spirit as you cruise along the stunning Sydney Harbor, creating cherished memories that will last a lifetime. Book your Christmas party cruise today and embark on a journey of merriment and joy!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Why they're smearing Lina Khan

My god, they sure hate Lina Khan. This once-in-a-generation, groundbreaking, brilliant legal scholar and fighter for the public interest, the slayer of Reaganomics, has attracted more vitriol, mockery, and dismissal than any of her predecessors in living memory.

She sure must be doing something right, huh?

A quick refresher. In 2017, Khan — then a law student — published Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox in the Yale Law Journal. It was a brilliant, blistering analysis showing how the Reagan-era theory of antitrust (which celebrates monopolies as “efficient”) had failed on its own terms, using Amazon as Exhibit A of the ways in which post-Reagan antitrust had left Americans vulnerable to corporate abuse:

https://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/amazons-antitrust-paradox

The paper sent seismic shocks through both legal and economic circles, and goosed the neo-Brandeisian movement (sneeringly dismissed as “hipster antitrust”). This movement is a rebuke to Reaganomics, with its celebration of monopolies, trickle-down, offshoring, corporate dark money, revolving-door regulatory capture, and companies that are simultaneously too big to fail and too big to jail.

This movement has many proponents, of course — not just Khan — but Khan’s careful scholarship, combined with her encyclopedic knowledge of the long-dormant statutory powers that federal agencies had to make change, and a strategy for reviving those powers to protect Americans from corporate predators made her a powerful, inspirational figure.

When Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, he surprised everyone by appointing Khan to the FTC. It wasn’t just that she had such a radical vision — it was also that she lacked the usual corporate law experience that such an appointee would normally require (experience that would ensure that the FTC was helmed by people whose default view of the world is that it should be structured and regulated by powerful, wealthy people in corporate boardrooms).

Even more surprising was that Khan was made chair of the FTC, something that was only possible because a few Republican Senators broke with their party to support her candidacy:

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1171/vote_117_1_00233.htm

These Republicans saw in Khan an ally in their fight against “woke” Big Tech. For these senators, the problem wasn’t that tech had got too big and powerful — it was that there were a few limited instances in which tech leaders failed to wield that power in the ways they preferred.

The Republican project is a matter of getting turkeys to vote for Christmas by doing a lot of culture war bullshit, cruelly abusing disfavored sexual and racial minorities. This wins support from low-information voters who’ll vote against their class interests and support more monopolies, more tax cuts for the rich, and more cuts to the services they rely on.

But while tech leaders are 100% committed to the project of permanent oligarchic takeover of every sphere of American life, they are less full-throated in their support for hateful, cruel discrimination against disfavored minorities (in this regard, tech leaders resemble the corporate wing of the Democrats, which is where we get the “Silicon Valley is a Democratic Party stronghold” narrative).

This failure to unquestioningly and unstintingly back culture war bullshit put tech leaders in the GOP’s crosshairs. Some GOP politicians actually believe in the culture war bullshit, and are grossly offended that tech is “woke.” Others are smart enough not to get high on their own supply, but worry that any tech obstruction in the bullshit culture wars will make it harder to get sufficient turkey votes for a big fat Christmas surprise.

Biden’s ceding of antitrust policy to the left wing of the party, combined with disaffected GOP senators viewing Khan as their enemy’s enemy, led to Khan’s historic appointment as FTC Chair. In that position, she was joined by a slate of Biden trustbusters, including Jonathan Kanter at the DoJ Antitrust Division, Tim Wu at the White House, and other important, skilled and principled fighters like Alvaro Bedoya (FTC), Rebecca Slaughter (FTC), Rohit Chopra (CFPB), and many others.

Crucially, these new appointees weren’t just principled, they were good at their jobs. In 2021, Tim Wu wrote an executive order for Biden that laid out 72 concrete ways in which the administration could act — with no further Congressional authorization — to blunt corporate power and insulate the American people from oligarchs’ abusive and extractive practices:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/13/post-bork-era/#manne-down

Since then, the antitrust arm of the Biden administration have been fuckin’ ninjas, Getting Shit Done in ways large and small, working — for the first time since Reagan — to protect Americans from predatory businesses:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

This is in marked contrast to the corporate Dems’ champions in the administration. People like Pete Buttigieg are heralded as competent technocrats, “realists” who are too principled to peddle hopium to the base, writing checks they can’t cash. All this is cover for a King Log performance, in which Buttigieg’s far-reaching regulatory authority sits unused on a shelf while a million Americans are stranded over Christmas and whole towns are endangered by greedy, reckless rail barons straight out of the Gilded Age:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

The contrast between the Biden trustbusters and their counterparts from the corporate wing is stark. While the corporate wing insists that every pitch is outside of the zone, Khan and her allies are swinging for the stands. They’re trying to make life better for you and me, by declaring commercial surveillance to be an unfair business practice and thus illegal:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/12/regulatory-uncapture/#conscious-uncoupling

And by declaring noncompete “agreements” that shackle good workers to shitty jobs to be illegal:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/02/its-the-economy-stupid/#neofeudal

And naturally, this has really pissed off all the right people: America’s billionaires and their cheerleaders in the press, government, and the hive of scum and villainy that is the Big Law/thinktank industrial-complex.

Take the WSJ: since Khan took office, they have published 67 vicious editorials attacking her and her policies. Khan is living rent-free in Rupert Murdoch’s head. Not only that, he’s given her the presidential suite! You love to see it.

These attacks are worth reading, if only to see how flimsy and frivolous they are. One major subgenre is that Khan shouldn’t be bringing any action against Amazon, because her groundbreaking scholarship about the company means she has a conflict of interest. Holy moly is this a stupid thing to say. The idea that the chair of an expert agency should recuse herself because she is an expert is what the physicists call not even wrong.

But these attacks are even more laughable due to who they’re coming from: people who have the most outrageous conflicts of interest imaginable, and who were conspicuously silent for years as the FTC’s revolving door admitted the a bestiary of swamp-creatures so conflicted it’s a wonder they managed to dress themselves in the morning.

Writing in The American Prospect, David Dayen runs the numbers:

Since the late 1990s, 31 out of 41 top FTC officials worked directly for a company that has business before the agency, with 26 of them related to the technology industry.

https://prospect.org/economy/2023-06-23-attacks-lina-khans-ethics-reveal-projection/

Take Christine Wilson, a GOP-appointed FTC Commissioner who quit the agency in a huff because Khan wanted to do things for the American people, and not their self-appointed oligarchic princelings. Wilson wrote an angry break-up letter to Khan that the WSJ published, presaging their concierge service for Samuel Alito:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-im-resigning-from-the-ftc-commissioner-ftc-lina-khan-regulation-rule-violation-antitrust-339f115d

For Wilson to question Khan’s ethics took galactic-scale chutzpah. Wilson, after all, is a commissioner who took cash money from Bristol-Myers Squibb, then voted to approve their merger with Celgene:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4365601-Wilson-Christine-Smith-final278.html

Or take Wilson’s GOP FTC predecessor Josh Wright, whose incestuous relationship with the companies he oversaw at the Commission are so intimate he’s practically got a Habsburg jaw. Wright went from Google to the US government and back again four times. He also lobbied the FTC on behalf of Qualcomm (a major donor to Wright’s employer, George Mason’s Antonin Scalia Law School) after working “personally and substantially” while serving at the FTC.

George Mason’s Scalia center practically owns the revolving door, counting fourteen FTC officials among its affliates:

https://campaignforaccountability.org/ttp-investigation-big-techs-backdoor-to-the-ftc/

Since the 1990s, 31 out of 41 top FTC officials — both GOP appointed and appointees backed by corporate Dems — “worked directly for a company that has business before the agency”:

https://www.citizen.org/article/ftc-big-tech-revolving-door-problem-report/

The majority of FTC and DoJ antitrust lawyers who served between 2014–21 left government service and went straight to work for a Big Law firm, serving the companies they’d regulated just a few months before:

https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/The-Revolving-Door-In-Federal-Antitrust-Enforcement.pdf

Take Deborah Feinstein, formerly the head of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, now a partner at Arnold & Porter, where she’s represented General Electric, NBCUniversal, Unilever, and Pepsi and a whole medicine chest’s worth of pharma giants before her former subordinates at the FTC. Michael Moiseyev who was assistant manager of FTC Competition is now in charge of mergers at Weil Gotshal & Manges, working for Microsoft, Meta, and Eli Lilly.

There’s a whole bunch more, but Dayen reserves special notice for Andrew Smith, Trump’s FTC Consumer Protection boss. Before he was put on the public payroll, Smith represented 120 clients that had business before the Commission, including “nearly every major bank in America, drug industry lobbyist PhRMA, Uber, Equifax, Amazon, Facebook, Verizon, and a variety of payday lenders”:

https://www.citizen.org/sites/default/files/andrew_smith_foia_appeal_response_11_30.pdf

Before Khan, in other words, the FTC was a “conflict-of-interest assembly line, moving through corporate lawyers and industry hangers-on without resistance for decades.”

Khan is the first FTC head with no conflicts. This leaves her opponents in the sweaty, desperate position of inventing conflicts out of thin air.

For these corporate lickspittles, Khan’s “conflict” is that she has a point of view. Specifically, she thinks that the FTC should do its job.

This makes grifters like Jim Jordan furious. Yesterday, Jordan grilled Khan in a hearing where he accused her of violating an ethics official’s advice that she should recuse herself from Big Tech cases. This is a talking point that was created and promoted by Bloomberg:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-16/ftc-rejected-ethics-advice-for-khan-recusal-on-meta-case

That ethics official, Lorielle Pankey, did not, in fact, make this recommendation. It’s simply untrue (she did say that Khan presiding over cases that she has made public statements about could be used as ammo against her, but did not say that it violated any ethical standard).

But there’s more to this story. Pankey herself has a gigantic conflict of interest in this case, including a stock portfolio with $15,001 and $50,000 in Meta stock (Meta is another company that has whined in print and in its briefs that it is a poor defenseless lamb being picked on by big, mean ole Lina Khan):

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ethics-official-owned-meta-stock-while-recommending-ftc-chair-recuse-herself-from-meta-case-8582a83b

Jordan called his hearing on the back of this fake scandal, and then proceeded to show his whole damned ass, even as his GOP colleagues got into a substantive and even informative dialog with Khan:

https://prospect.org/power/2023-07-14-jim-jordan-misfires-attacks-lina-khan/

Mostly what came out of that hearing was news about how Khan is doing her job, working on behalf of the American people. For example, she confirmed that she’s investigating OpenAI for nonconsensually harvesting a mountain of Americans’ personal information:

https://www.ft.com/content/8ce04d67-069b-4c9d-91bf-11649f5adc74

Other Republicans, including confirmed swamp creatures like Matt Gaetz, ended up agreeing with Khan that Amazon Ring is a privacy dumpster-fire. Nobodies like Rep TomM assie gave Khan an opening to discuss how her agency is protecting mom-and-pop grocers from giant, price-gouging, greedflation-drunk national chains. Jeff Van Drew gave her a chance to talk about the FTC’s war on robocalls. Lance Gooden let her talk about her fight against horse doping.

But Khan’s opponents did manage to repeat a lot of the smears against her, and not just the bogus conflict-of-interest story. They also accused her of being 0–4 in her actions to block mergers, ignoring the huge number of mergers that have been called off or not initiated because M&A professionals now understand they can no longer expect these mergers to be waved through. Indeed, just last night I spoke with a friend who owns a medium-sized tech company that Meta tried to buy out, only to withdraw from the deal because their lawyers told them it would get challenged at the FTC, with an uncertain outcome.

These talking points got picked up by people commenting on Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s ruling against the FTC in the Microsoft-Activision merger. The FTC was seeking an injunction against the merger, and Corley turned them down flat. The ruling was objectively very bad. Start with the fact that Corley’s son is a Microsoft employee who stands reap massive gains in his stock options if the merger goes through.

But beyond this (real, non-imaginary, not manufactured conflict of interest), Corley’s judgment and her remarks in court were inexcusably bad, as Matt Stoller writes:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/judge-rules-for-microsoft-mergers

In her ruling, Corley explained that she didn’t think Microsoft would abuse the market dominance they’d gain by merging their giant videogame platform and studio with one of its largest competitors. Why not? Because Microsoft’s execs pinky-swore that they wouldn’t abuse that power.

Corely’s deference to Microsoft’s corporate priorities goes deeper than trusting its execs, though. In denying the FTC’s motion, she stated that it would be unfair to put the merger on hold in order to have a full investigation into its competition implications because Microsoft and Activision had set a deadline of July 18 to conclude things, and Microsoft would have to pay a penalty if that deadline passed.

This is surreal: a judge ruled that a corporation’s radical, massive merger shouldn’t be subject to full investigation because that corporation itself set an arbitrary deadline to conclude the deal before such an investigation could be concluded. That’s pretty convenient for future mega-mergers — just set a short deadline and Judge Corely will tell regulators that the merger can’t be investigated because the deadline is looming.

And this is all about the future. As Stoller writes, Microsoft isn’t exactly subtle about why it wants this merger. Its own execs said that the reason they were spending “dump trucks” of money buying games studios was to “spend Sony out of business.”

Now, maybe you hate Sony. Maybe you hate Activision. There’s plenty of good reason to hate both — they’re run by creeps who do shitty things to gamers and to their employees. But if you think that Microsoft will be better once it eliminates its competition, then you have the attention span of a goldfish on Adderall.

Microsoft made exactly the same promises it made on Activision when it bought out another games studio, Zenimax — and it broke every one of those promises.

Microsoft has a long, long, long history of being a brutal, abusive monopolist. It is a convicted monopolist. And its bad conduct didn’t end with the browser wars. You remember how the lockdown turned all our homes into rent-free branch offices for our employers? Microsoft seized on that moment to offer our bosses keystroke-and-click level surveillance of our use of our own computers in our own homes, via its Office365 bossware product:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/25/the-peoples-amazon/#clippys-revenge

If you think a company that gave your boss a tool to spy on their employees and rank them by “productivity” as a prelude to firing them or cutting their pay is going to treat gamers or game makers well once they have “spent the competition out of business,” you’re a credulous sucker and you are gonna be so disappointed.

The enshittification play is obvious: use investor cash to make things temporarily nice for customers and suppliers, lock both of them in — in this case, it’s with a subscription-based service similar to Netflix’s — and then claw all that value back until all that’s left is a big pile of shit.

The Microsoft case is about the future. Judge Corely doesn’t take the future seriously: as she said during the trial, “All of this is for a shooter videogame.” The reason Corely greenlit this merger isn’t because it won’t be harmful — it’s because she doesn’t think those harms matter.

But it does, and not just because games are an art form that generate billions of dollars, employ a vast workforce, and bring pleasure to millions. It also matters because this is yet another one of the Reaganomic precedents that tacitly endorses monopolies as efficient forces for good. As Stoller writes, Corley’s ruling means that “deal bankers are sharpening pencils and saying ‘Great, the government lost! We can get mergers through everywhere else.’ Basically, if you like your high medical prices, you should be cheering on Microsoft’s win today.”

Ronald Reagan’s antitrust has colonized our brains so thoroughly that commentators were surprised when, immediately after the ruling, the FTC filed an appeal. Don’t they know they’ve lost? the commentators said:

https://gizmodo.com/ftc-files-appeal-of-microsoft-activision-deal-ruling-1850640159

They echoed the smug words of insufferable Activision boss Mike Ybarra: “Your tax dollars at work.”

https://twitter.com/Qwik/status/1679277251337277440

But of course Khan is appealing. The only reason that’s surprising is that Khan is working for us, the American people, not the giant corporations the FTC is supposed to be defending us from. Sure, I get that this is a major change! But she needs our backing, not our cheap cynicism.

The business lobby and their pathetic Renfields have hoarded all the nice things and they don’t want us to have any. Khan and her trustbuster colleagues want the opposite. There is no measure so small that the corporate world won’t have a conniption over it. Take click to cancel, the FTC’s perfectly reasonable proposal that if you sign up for a recurring payment subscription with a single click, you should be able to cancel it with a single click.

The tooth-gnashing and garment-rending and scenery-chewing over this is wild. America’s biggest companies have wheeled out their biggest guns, claiming that if they make it too easy to unsubscribe, they will lose money. In other words, they are currently making money not because people want their products, but because it’s too hard to stop paying for them!

https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/12/ftc_cancel_subscriptions/

We shouldn’t have to tolerate this sleaze. And if we back Khan and her team, they’ll protect us from these scams. Don’t let them convince you to give up hope. This is the start of the fight, not the end. We’re trying to reverse 40 years’ worth of Reagonmics here. It won’t happen overnight. There will be setbacks. But keep your eyes on the prize — this is the most exciting moment for countering corporate power and giving it back to the people in my lifetime. We owe it to ourselves, our kids and our planet to fight one.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/14/making-good-trouble/#the-peoples-champion

[Image ID: A line drawing of pilgrims ducking a witch tied to a ducking stool. The pilgrims' clothes have been emblazoned with the logos for the WSJ, Microsoft, Activision and Blizzard. The witch's face has been replaced with that of FTC chair Lina M Khan.]

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