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Today, Vivendi upped their stakes in both Ubisoft and Gameloft to over 10%. This comes roughly one week after their initial purchase of Ubisoft stock gave them 6.6% total ownership in the studio.Vivendi increased its equity stake in Ubisoft and Gameloft, two French companies with internationally-recognized know-how in video games, to respectively 10.39% and 10.20%.
On October 20, 2015, Vivendi held 11.60 million Ubisoft shares and 8.68 million Gameloft shares. These shares were acquired on the market for a total amount of respectively 244 million euros and 34.41 million euros and financed through the Group’s disposable cash.
These investments are part of a strategic vision of operational convergence between Vivendi’s content and platforms on one hand and the Ubisoft and Gameloft productions in video games on the other.
Vivendi is acting alone, is not in concert with a third party and has not concluded a temporary sale agreement regarding the Ubisoft and Gameloft shares or voting rights.
The Group reserves the right to increase its stake in these two companies depending on market conditions and the possibility, in due time, to be represented on their board.
On October 20, 2015, Vivendi held 11.60 million Ubisoft shares and 8.68 million Gameloft shares. These shares were acquired on the market for a total amount of respectively 244 million euros and 34.41 million euros and financed through the Group’s disposable cash.
These investments are part of a strategic vision of operational convergence between Vivendi’s content and platforms on one hand and the Ubisoft and Gameloft productions in video games on the other.
Vivendi is acting alone, is not in concert with a third party and has not concluded a temporary sale agreement regarding the Ubisoft and Gameloft shares or voting rights.
The Group reserves the right to increase its stake in these two companies depending on market conditions and the possibility, in due time, to be represented on their board.
That last line seems especially ominous. Vivendi has roughly $10 billion of cash to toss around as they please and it looks as though they're setting their sites on eventually owning a controlling share of Ubisoft and Gameloft.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot isn't at all pleased with what Vivendi is doing. After the first round of stock purchases, he issued remarks via an internal email that said he and Ubisoft will "fight to preserve our independence."
"Our intention is and has always been to remain independent, a value which, for 30 years, has allowed us to innovate, take risks, create beloved franchises for players around the world, and which has helped the company grow into the leader it is today," Guillemot said.
"We're going to fight to preserve our independence. We should not let this situation - nor any future actions by Vivendi or others - distract us from our goals. Our best defence is to stay focused on what we have always done best - deliver the most original and memorable gaming experiences."
"We're going to fight to preserve our independence. We should not let this situation - nor any future actions by Vivendi or others - distract us from our goals. Our best defence is to stay focused on what we have always done best - deliver the most original and memorable gaming experiences."
In a separate email, Guillemot stated that a takeover by Vivendi would result in management "by people who don't understand our expertise and what it takes to succeed in this industry."
Previously, Vivendi is best known in the gaming industry for having a drawn out legal battle against Valve. They also owned 63% of Activision Blizzard, often making unsuccessful attempts to sell off the company to others. Activision Blizzard bought back a majority of that ownership in 2013.
