Vivendi Potentially Taking Over Ubisoft; Might Happen By End of 2017

With a couple of major games coming soon, Ubisoft is going to be facing quite an interesting year. This includes potentially being taken over by Vivendi.

Vivendi Potentially Taking Over Ubisoft

According to a new report from Bloomberg, French media conglomerate Vivendi is unsure whether to drop its Ubisoft stock or to an attempt a takeover

This past Friday, one of the industries biggest players, French developer and publisher Ubisoft, held its annual shareholders meeting. And nothing out of the ordinary happened.

However, after the meeting concluded, Vivendi’s chief operating officer Stephane Roussel reportedly told the aforementioned Bloomberg that the mega company hasn’t decided whether or not it will push forward towards a Ubisoft takeover or sell its stock in the company. It currently owns 26 percent (roughly) in shares.

Vivendi, led by billionaire Vincent Bollore, refrained from calling a shareholder vote to give itself a seat on the board, something it has been denied when it has requested in the past. And according to Ubisoft Chief Executive Officer Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft’s shareholders would have voted against Vivendi should it sought to have grabbed a board seat, saying, “Our shareholders don’t want creeping control.”

However, things will come to a head later this year in November, when double-voting rights will increase Vivendi’s power, and bring their stock ownership to 30 percent, which then would require it to make a takeover bid in accordance to French law. This is the same way Vivendi took over French game company Gameloft (which like Ubisoft, was a company founded and run by the Guillemot family) last year.

Source: Bloomberg

Pokdepinion: At this point, saying goodbye to Ubisoft isn’t something that will make me feel sad. There’s very few games I enjoy from them and the corporate takeover might give Ubisoft a breath of fresh air…assuming it doesn’t just shut down or have a complete change in direction after.