Activision, the maker of Call of Duty, said Britain is “clearly closed for business”, according to the FT. The UK competition regulator blocked Microsoft’s $75bn acquisition of the company on Wednesday.

The paper says the move drew a “furious response” from the video games maker, which said the ruling contradicted the UK’s ambitions to become an attrac­tive country to build technology busi­nesses. One shareholder told the FT: “It’s a zombie deal now.”