By Dean Seal

Activision Blizzard Inc. posted higher revenue and stronger-than-expected earnings on Wednesday, hours after U.K. regulators rejected its proposed $75 billion merger with Microsoft Corp.

The videogame company posted a profit of $740 million, or 93 cents a share, compared with $395 million, or 50 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Stripping out one-time items, adjusted earnings were $1.09 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected 51 cents a share.

Quarterly revenue jumped to $2.38 billion from $1.77 billion last year, when demand for its popular "Call of Duty" videogame franchise was fizzling.

A year later, premium Call of Duty game sales have risen significantly, as have in-game bookings on consoles and personal computers, Activision said. Broad-based growth across the franchise helped triple Activision's segment operating income from year-ago levels, according to the company.

The results weren't able to reverse earlier stock price declines that followed the U.K.'s antitrust watchdog ruling against Microsoft's purchase of Activision, which complicates the companies' efforts to obtain global approval for the deal.

Shares were down 11.2% at $77 in trading on Wednesday.

Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 26, 2023 11:39 ET (15:39 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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