With Vivendi declaring that it will continue to purchase Ubisoft stock “depending on market conditions,” the developer is deploying several measures to prevent itself from suffering the same fate as Gameloft. In its most recent bid to fight off the French media conglomerate, Ubisoft is offering its employees a 15 percent discount on its stock. As reported by GameInformer:
The company will match their purchases one-to-one up to €1,000. Employees can invest up to 25 percent of their gross annual salary. The shares on offer are capped at three percent of the company’s capital as of April 19.
With the help of this program, the employees’ voting rights will be held by the supervisory board of the mutual fund through which stock is purchased. For a “lock-up period” of up to five years, the shares will not be sold or traded. At the end of the lock-up period, employees will have the option of selling stock for cash or transfer to another Ubisoft mutual fund. A representative told GameInformer:
Our intention with these programs is to give employees an opportunity to be more closely linked to our development and future performance. With employees representing a bigger share of our capital they will have a bigger say in decisions taken by the company and will be even more invested in the company’s long term success.
A similar program has also been announced for the company’s US employees but with some differences, however.
[Source: GameInformer]
