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Vivendi increases stakes on Ubisoft, up to 22.8%.
- Thread starter rockman zx
- Start date
Tal Shiar Agent
Member
What's the point when they officially take over the company? Is it a simple majority of shares, or another obtuse percentage?
Aces&Eights
Member
We need an Assassin's Creed map showing what parts of Ubisoft are under enemy control. They could make a mobile tower defense game out of it.
backflip10019
Member
Likely the latter, though I'm not 100% sure of the breakdown of Ubisoft's ownership.
Garrett Hawke
Member
I don't think I want it to happen tho :/
ScatheZombie
Member
It's 30%. Or at least that's when they can officially purchase control - which would be another 20%.
They need to announce a tender offer after passing 30% and at this point it will be clear if they want to take it all or no (and yeah, they most likely do). You need 50% to take over a board.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
turd tide rising
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Why do they want it so bad? This is so absurd.
You'll have to climb one of 8 clocktowers to uncover that information first.
Garrett Hawke
Member
IP, probably. Ubisoft has shown that they really want to expand their brands outside games so I imagine Vivendi wants in on that.
D
Deleted member 144138
Unconfirmed Member
Is it possible for Ubi to buy back some stocks in order to prevent this hostile takeover?
No it's 22.8% of the shares, and and 20.2% of voting rights.
Planning: Probably a new board of administrators with Vivendi people on Q4, actual takeover in 2017.
Ubisoft has some major AAA IPs which Vivendi thinks they can make a lot of money on.
Not really. They do not have the funds to do so.
benicillin
Banned
This feels really sad to me. I have a ton of problems with Ubi stuff but I can't fault them for putting out some good games and it feels like they really got back on track the last couple of years. Syndicate, Rainbow Six: Siege, and now Watch_dogs 2 all show signs of serious improvement over what they were putting out before.
Do you really envision a mass exodus? Where exactly are the thousands of Ubi employees going?
Isn't that what happened with CoD? Many of the core talent left, yet they still are doing fine.
StrikeFirst117
Banned
Vivendi are going to commit another hostile takeover aren't they?
This sucks for Ubisoft majorly, not a massive fan of their games anymore but can see their appeal for others and here I'm hoping they don't get screwed over.
This sucks for Ubisoft majorly, not a massive fan of their games anymore but can see their appeal for others and here I'm hoping they don't get screwed over.
Yeah, I'm of a similar mind in that it seems that Ubi is really trying to change things around for themselves and improve on their games like listening to the criticisms for the first Watch Dogs and skipping an Assassin's Creed this year and letting it rest.
What is the best case scenario here? Vivendi takes over and lets Ubi continue to do how they would regardless and Vivendi just sits there taking a piece of the pie?
ScatheZombie
Member
What? No, that's what they have now. At 30% shares, French law triggers a mandatory takeover offer to purchase the remaining 20% in order for a 50% stake and control of the company. That said, the rest of the shareholders don't need to sell, so it still isn't a guarantee - but that's exactly what happened with Vivendi and Gameloft.
Even at their current shares and voting rights percentages, they still aren't guaranteed board seats.
Of even lesser quality? Anyway, I'm cheering Vivendi on. Go Vivendi!
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Why would all the talent quit their jobs? The implicit assumption in this kind of scaremongering is that the Evil New Owners will be Very Evil, not like the current owners Who Are Really Really Great, and so all the Talent will just go Get Other Jobs or whatever. I get why the Guillemots need to use the threat of an employee exodus to try to marshal shareholders onto their side, I don't get why regular people would place much stock in that.
So, two serious questions.
1.) Where will they all go?
2.) Why would they want to leave their current jobs?
AHA-Lambda
Member
Yeah I still don't get it either, they owned and got rid of ATVI before after all.
thepenguin55
Member
Well it was nice knowing you Ubisoft. It's always wild to me that stuff like this happens. It's always felt like it should be illegal and yet here we are.
ScatheZombie
Member
343i seems to get on just fine.
ThoughtsOfSpeaking
Banned
It's a shame but whatever.
spookyfish
Member
Could UBI a) release people from non-compete contracts, b) have them set up another company, and then c) sell their IPs?
Is that possible?
I mean, f**k Vivendi. This is bullshit.
Is that possible?
I mean, f**k Vivendi. This is bullshit.
the same reason regular people think sony is their friend who wants the best for them
people anthropomorphize even the most soulless and profit-driven corporations and feel as if getting bought is some kind of tragedy unless the purchaser is a "good" company
They had a cashflow problem at the time, and they managed to send Activision off saddled with a lot of debt for the company.
They've cleaned things up and want to get back into games. EA and Activision are too big to acquire, so they went for the next biggest.
BobJustBob
Member
Could this mean the end of Uplay? Because if so, I'm all for it.
There is this thing called shareholders. So no.
Platinum Mad
Banned
What would really change if they took over?
When they took over Activision they just started forcing out games from their IPs every year, lowering quality and over saturating the market but with Ubi already doing that..?
When they took over Activision they just started forcing out games from their IPs every year, lowering quality and over saturating the market but with Ubi already doing that..?
Mega Caprison
Member
good, now give prince of persia some love, vivendi
Instead of Yves Guillemot, you will see some other guy at e3. He isn't a bad CEO and cares about games somewhat, you can definitely get a more risk averse management easily but probably things won't change too much from right now. There won't be any mass exodus. It's not like Vivendi didn't own a gaming company before, they were Blizzard's parent company for years and it was just fine.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
d*mn this ownage is insane makes u wonder y no one dos this ugh f*ck
Pretty sure this AC year skip wouldn't have happened under Vivendi.
this is also the solution to america's debt problem if u think abotu it
OdysseusVA
Banned
Ice cold
