During a recent earnings report for the French media conglomerate Vivendi, the company announced that it has no current plans to make a hostile takeover of video games publisher Ubisoft within the next six months. This confirmation ends months of speculation over what Vivendi would do with its stake in the company, as many thought it would try and use its double voting rights to instate a takeover of the company.
In the earnings report (which can be read in full in their release), Vivendi noted that their investments in video games were still generating value, with Gameloft being the worldwide leader in mobile gaming downloads. As for Ubisoft, Vivendi said that they will ensure that their interest in Ubisoft does not exceed the threshold of 30% – the limit for a mandatory takeover – for at least the next six months.
The company also revealed that they will not seek representation on Ubisoft’s board of directors , and that the company is essentially sitting on an unrealized capital gain of €1 billion thanks to its investment in Ubisoft. Obviously, this comes as good news to Ubisoft, who has been trying to stay as independent of Vivendi as they could after the company made an investment almost two years ago.
While Vivendi has ensured that it won’t be acquiring Ubisoft within these six months, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Vivendi could just be waiting to strike when the time is right, and since Ubisoft is already extremely profitable for the company, there’s no incentive to make a move right away. We’ll have more on this should it develop.
