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Vivendi unsure whether to drop Ubisoft stock or attempt a takeover, says exec
- Thread starter Alastor3
- Start date
DeuceGamer
Member
Haven't even finished the takeover and they have no vision with what to do with Ubisoft. What could go wrong?
Peroroncino
Member
They won't, which is the worst and most likely scenario.
schaft0620
Member
I worked through a scenario like this before in my personal life. Vivendi is buying shares to take over Ubi, if they can't take over Ubi there's no point in owning shares.
DeuceGamer
Member
What would keep them from taking over though? It would seem they could take over by the end of the year, based on the info presented in the article.
reptilescorpio
Member
Some weird mind games being played by Vivendi
TheSinkingKnight
Member
After the EA scare in the 00's, why did they not prepare for this??
Duchess O'Death
Member
Futaleufu
Member
The stock price may fall if the hostile takeover happens. It could cost them a lot of money.
vinnygambini
Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
Vincent Bollore eventually gets what he wants to be honest... outlook no so good for Ubisoft's independence.
That's.... not how it works.
Stock price doesn't matter much, brand value does.
Brand values could be affected by bad rep/press and/or key creative people leaving Ubisoft in case of takeover.
Considering stock price is the highest it's ever been for Ubisoft, they could still gain some money from the overall operation if they were to resell their stock.
What the Vivendi guy seems to be doing is gauging market reaction to see how the stock price changes, nothing wrong for them to still be undecided as in case of takeover it would clearly be an hostile one and the Guillemot are managing Ubisoft pretty decently and have the backup of other shareholders currently.
KaoticBlaze
Member
Ubisoft should open like 200 new, smaller offices all around the world and make Vivendi collect them all before they can attempt a takeover
November 20th is the date to keep an eye on.
Whatever the outcome will be, it will be a win-win situation for Vivendi as the stock price has gone up significantly (75% YOY) since they came into play. It's also worth noting that Bolloré Group (company of the current Vivendi chairman) owns a minority stake in BigBen Interactive, so that might become a potential target if the Ubisoft takeover doesn't go through. Vivendi still wants a game division.
Whatever the outcome will be, it will be a win-win situation for Vivendi as the stock price has gone up significantly (75% YOY) since they came into play. It's also worth noting that Bolloré Group (company of the current Vivendi chairman) owns a minority stake in BigBen Interactive, so that might become a potential target if the Ubisoft takeover doesn't go through. Vivendi still wants a game division.
It seems to be managed pretty well so far.
Candescence
Member
If Vivendi wants a game division so badly, why did they let fucking Activision-Blizzard slip from their fingers?
Bolloré seems like the sort who is rich in euros but poor in sense.
Bolloré seems like the sort who is rich in euros but poor in sense.
It wasn't Bolloré at the helm of Vivendi back then. Since he's in charge he wants to go back in the sector and create a mega media conglomerate.
Candescence
Member
Ah, that makes sense. He must want to strangle the people who were in charge before him for squandering what they had.
Does Vivendi have that kind of money right now? If I remember correctly, on the last thread it said they only had ~100M on liquid cash.
Triggerhappytel
Member
I believe at the time they needed money for another merger/takeover, but that never ended up going through. Plus, it wasn't Bollore in charge at the time, and he wants to build a French media conglomerate empire.
As I understand it, Vivendi has spent a lot of their war chest recently, and Ubisoft has made a lot of positive moves driving up their stock prices. A successful launch of AC Origins and good sales of Just Dance during the holidays could drive it up further making the forced acquisition attempt for Vivendi to be too expensive for the company. So, they'd be forced to sell some stock to prevent the automatic attempt -- but the stock price is high, so that is attractive to them, too.
So, they're waiting to see closer to the date how expensive the takeover would be versus the amount of profit from selling their shares. It makes sense.
So, they're waiting to see closer to the date how expensive the takeover would be versus the amount of profit from selling their shares. It makes sense.
oldergamer
Member
Gameloft is better under vivendi. It was a shit show with the old management.
Sgt. Kabukiman
Banned
Leave my boy Yves alone!
Seriously, Vivendi is the death of all that is good. Exhibit A: Canal Plus.
Seriously, Vivendi is the death of all that is good. Exhibit A: Canal Plus.
Being honest, I think its just a matter of time until Vivendi buys Ubisoft completely.
Making a couple billion Euros by selling off their shares, even at a high price, probably isn't fitting Vivendi's long term strategic plan to be that mega media corp.
I can see this going through this year.
Ubi don't need the extra cash, just complete independence.
Making a couple billion Euros by selling off their shares, even at a high price, probably isn't fitting Vivendi's long term strategic plan to be that mega media corp.
I can see this going through this year.
Ubi don't need the extra cash, just complete independence.
Some Nobody
Junior Member
Fall back fam. Sell your stock and get your money up, then go bother someone else. I'm just getting into Ubisoft games.
It might fall after the takeover but definitely not during negotiations.
Ubi sought massive growth in order to achieve its ambitions. Protecting against a hostile takeover was never in the cards.
They still get fucked by corporate decisions so I don't think so.
CDPR is at the sweet spot. They're publicly traded, privately owned, and are legally armed against takeovers.
They're owned by Take-Two Interactive, who are publicly traded.
FWIW, a couple of bad quarters and all of that goes right out the window. CDPR is in the best shape it has ever been but their growth will eventually slow down and that is where the rubber meets the road.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
Vivendi isn't actually interested in making games, they just see it as another potential business venture. If they see a better opportunity come up, they'd likely take it.
Remember, this is the company that bailed on Activision/Blizzard.
Dinky Dino
Member
More trouble than they are worth most likely. Ubi has been giving them a fight and making it hard to takeover. Basically it became a battle of attrition where UBI holds an advantage. Vivi might think their dollars and efforts would be better spent taking over another company instead of sinking all their time in this struggle.
And if they bail? Ubi goes bankrupt. Shareholders file class action suits and no one wins.
LukasTaves
Member
The only thing I can think of is them being obliged to make a bid for the whole company before securing the capital to do so, that's something Vivendi own shareholders possibly wouldn't like very much.
This isn't really new -- this is back from Sept 3:
However Ubisoft won't come cheap--Reuters estimates that Vivendi may have to pay $6 billion to wrestle control of the company away from the Guillemot family. Vivendi's net cash plummetted to $540.355 million as of March 2017, down 1253% since 2015 where it had $7.31 billion net cash. Due to the costs, Vivendi could pass on Ubisoft altogether. Gameloft CEO and ex Vivendi COO Stéphane Roussel told French press site Le Figaro that the company is weighing other acquisition targets, and although Ubisoft is the "most natural solution," it's "not Ubisoft or nothing." If Vivendi pursues another acquisition that costs more than 1 billion euros, Roussel says the company will cease any takeover of Ubisoft.
Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/5900...y-2-million-shares-counter-vivendi/index.html
However Ubisoft won't come cheap--Reuters estimates that Vivendi may have to pay $6 billion to wrestle control of the company away from the Guillemot family. Vivendi's net cash plummetted to $540.355 million as of March 2017, down 1253% since 2015 where it had $7.31 billion net cash. Due to the costs, Vivendi could pass on Ubisoft altogether. Gameloft CEO and ex Vivendi COO Stéphane Roussel told French press site Le Figaro that the company is weighing other acquisition targets, and although Ubisoft is the "most natural solution," it's "not Ubisoft or nothing." If Vivendi pursues another acquisition that costs more than 1 billion euros, Roussel says the company will cease any takeover of Ubisoft.
Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/5900...y-2-million-shares-counter-vivendi/index.html