Vivendi SA announced that the company plans to acquire a controlling stake in Activision, Inc. and fuse both companies into one entity. If this deal is finalized, the new company would rival Electronic Arts Inc, the world’s largest video game publisher.
Activision currently has a plethora of leading video game titles, including “Guitar Hero,” “Call of Duty” and the “Tony Hawk” series. Vivendi Games publishes “Crash Bandicoot” and owns the online role-playing franchise “World of Warcraft.” The combination of both companies would create the world’s largest pure-play online and console game publisher.
Under the initial terms of this agreement, Vivendi Games will convert their equity into Activision shares valued at $8.1 billion. Vivendi will also buy an additional $1.7 billion of stock, for a total value of $9.8 billion. These terms would give Vivendi a 52 percent stake in a new company to be called Activision Blizzard.
“This transaction has always stuck out as the way to become the number one most successful video-game publisher,” announced Activision Chief Executive Bobby Kotick in an interview.
Jean-Bernard Levy, chairman and chief executive officer of Vivendi, stated that this deal “will unlock the value of Blizzard.”
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