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Capcom says it would 'gracefully decline' any acquisition offer from Microsoft

solidus12

Member
L5Zg648.jpg
You don't understand, it's about bringing more games to people.
 

dotnotbot

Member
So it seems like only EA and Take2 is left on the table from major publishers. Both would be a bit of a hassle to get because both own huge money making IPs like GTA and FC so I believe Microsoft would be forced to do a 10 year deals again for those, but once they do I don't think regulators could stop them.
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
So it seems like only EA and Take2 is left on the table from major publishers. Both would be a bit of a hassle to get because both own huge money making IPs like GTA and FC so I believe Microsoft would be forced to do a 10 year deal again for those, but once they do I don't think regulators could stop them.
EA and T2 would have been possible before ABK, but I don't think either of team is possible after ABK.

The whole shtick of Microsoft was that our revenue will still be lower than Sony and Tencent if we buy ABK. They can't say that after ABK when they are buying EA or T2.

And after the issues they ran into and the time they wasted with ABK, to gain such minimal advantage, I doubt they'd even attempt at anything even half as big now. Besides, their gaming needs to show profitability first and AI has become a bigger growth area for Microsoft now.
 
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dotnotbot

Member
EA and T2 would have been possible before ABK, but I don't think either of team is possible after ABK.

The whole shtick of Microsoft was that our revenue will still be lower than Sony and Tencent if we buy ABK. They can't say that after ABK when they are buying EA or T2.

And after the issues they ran into and the time they wasted with ABK, to gain such minimal advantage, I doubt they'd even attempt at anything even half as big now. Besides, their gaming needs to show profitability first and AI has become a bigger growth area for Microsoft now.

I hope so. I forgot about that revenue argument.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Yes I love that statement of we are better as equal partners. No one should own capcom. I want their switch games, ps and xbox games day one...no messing around with platforms losing games or pc getting games late.

...watch apple buy them.
 

Poltz

Member
Yes I love that statement of we are better as equal partners. No one should own capcom. I want their switch games, ps and xbox games day one...no messing around with platforms losing games or pc getting games late.

...watch apple buy them.
Looks at Monster Hunter Rise.
 
I can't see MS trying to purchase another big publisher when try barely made it through with ABK

They won't stop. SEGA is next and a host of smaller developers. Then when that all passes they'll go for someone big again. The only thing that will halt them is the regulatory bodies.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
Japanese work culture is very different from American, so I honestly wouldn't be surprised if any possible asking price would lead to the same outline. Same thing with Nintendo

Exactly. Japanese have honor involved in their business, and they tend to have generations behind them. They also rarely raise the white flag even when they seem to be heading to bankruptcy. That's why they tend to adapt and bounce back or downscale at the very worse.
 

Mung

Member
Good man.

No point in falling victim to Microsoft's failing black hole business model that requires more and more content for a stalling sub service. When it fails completely many of these studios will just be shut down.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Nah you don't get how publicly traded companies work. The shareholders decide, if a company pays enough than the CEO cannot say no unless he owns the majority of the shares.
How did Nintendo execs laugh Microsoft out of the room then when MS approached them with an acquisition offer? 🤔

Why didn't they have to bring that offer to the shareholders?
 

Nankatsu

Gold Member
From Japan either Konami or Square-Enix, since both clutch on a single franchise to survive - Metal Gear & Final Fantasy, respectively.

The rest needs to stay untouched.
 

Woopah

Member
How did Nintendo execs laugh Microsoft out of the room then when MS approached them with an acquisition offer? 🤔

Why didn't they have to bring that offer to the shareholders?
Nintendo management can obviously make recommendations and tell shareholders whether they think the move is a good idea or not.

But it's the shareholders who make the actual decision, not management.
 

GHG

Member
Nintendo management can obviously make recommendations and tell shareholders whether they think the move is a good idea or not.

But it's the shareholders who make the actual decision, not management.

You've got this backwards.

The BOD make the ultimate decision and then have a duty to inform shareholders. So they can turn down any offer as they see fit, but the only requirement is that they subsequently inform shareholders of their decision.

If more than 5% of the shareholders disagree with the decision then they can force a board meeting where the decision gets reconsidered - the BOD can still come back with the same decision and will inform their shareholders accordingly.

If they (the individual shareholders) still want to take things further then it becomes a long and arduous process, AGMs being called, members of the board being ousted, etc, etc - but even for this to happen it would require 50-75% of the shareholders to get together dependant on what action they wish to force. This sort of structure is why it was proving to be exceedingly difficult for the ATVI shareholders who wanted Bobby Kotick out to get rid of him, there are processes and schedules that need to be followed.

So in summary - the BOD hold all the cards at every stage up until there is a widespread revolt. Shareholder revolts are exceedingly rare due to the fact that it is often an act of self-sabotage (in the case of individual shareholders due to the fact that these often go hand in hand with shareholder value destruction) and due to the fact that revolts on that scale are difficult to coordinate.
 
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Woopah

Member
You've got this backwards.

The BOD make the ultimate decision and then have a duty to inform shareholders. So they can turn down any offer as they see fit, but the only requirement is that they subsequently inform shareholders of their decision.

If more than 5% of the shareholders disagree with the decision then they can force a board meeting where the decision gets reconsidered - the BOD can still come back with the same decision and will inform their shareholders accordingly.

If they (the individual shareholders) still want to take things further then it becomes a long and arduous process, AGMs being called, members of the board being ousted, etc, etc - but even for this to happen it would require 50-75% of the shareholders to get together dependant on what action they wish to force. This sort of structure is why it was proving to be exceedingly difficult for the ATVI shareholders who wanted Bobby Kotick out to get rid of him, there are processes and schedules that need to be followed.

So in summary - the BOD hold all the cards at every stage up until there is a widespread revolt. Shareholder revolts are exceedingly rare due to the fact that it is often an act of self-sabotage (in the case of individual shareholders due to the fact that these often go hand in hand with shareholder value destruction) and due to the fact that revolts on that scale are difficult to coordinate.
The recommendations of management and the Board is hugely influential, but their decision is not the final one.

Hostile takeovers are challenging but still technically possible since, as I said in my post, the shareholders are the ones that make the final decision.
 

GHG

Member
The recommendations of management and the Board is hugely influential, but their decision is not the final one.

Hostile takeovers are challenging but still technically possible since, as I said in my post, the shareholders are the ones that make the final decision.

It's the final one. It's set out that way in securities law.

If you're talking about a hostile takeover then that's a different thing entirely to what's being discussed here and would involve the purchasing company wholesale scooping up shares on the open market (or via a tender offer). In this example Microsoft would not be going to the BOD with an offer, they would be circumventing them entirely. In such a situation the headline like the one in the thread title wouldn't even exist.

Hostile takeovers are frowned upon in the business world for various reasons. If Microsoft wanted to make life even more difficult for themselves in Japan than it already is then that would certainly be one way to go about it. Oh, and there's the little fact that they tend to get hit with even more regulatory pushback than your usual transactions.
 
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Blood Borne

Member
Seems like he’s signalling to Microsoft that they’re open for negotiations and they better come with an offer they can’t refuse.
 

Blood Borne

Member
Also, I’m quite surprised neither Sony nor Nintendo hasn’t tried to acquire Capcom, especially Sony. Seems like a better and easier purchase than Bungie.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
Also, I’m quite surprised neither Sony nor Nintendo hasn’t tried to acquire Capcom, especially Sony. Seems like a better and easier purchase than Bungie.

They're not for sale. I think most Japanese companies, big ones, don't release all their stocks to the market. Something like 40% max that's why their overall value by stock isn't high due to being impossible to make a hostile acquisition. MS and Phil are extremely dumb and don't know that when talking about Nintendo.
 
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Woopah

Member
It's the final one. It's set out that way in securities law.

If you're talking about a hostile takeover then that's a different thing entirely to what's being discussed here and would involve the purchasing company wholesale scooping up shares on the open market (or via a tender offer). In this example Microsoft would not be going to the BOD with an offer, they would be circumventing them entirely. In such a situation the headline like the one in the thread title wouldn't even exist.

Hostile takeovers are frowned upon in the business world for various reasons. If Microsoft wanted to make life even more difficult for themselves in Japan than it already is then that would certainly be one way to go about it. Oh, and there's the little fact that they tend to get hit with even more regulatory pushback than your usual transactions.
To be clear I'm not making any predictions over what will happen or what Microsoft will do.

I was just pointing out that, technically, Board and management approval is not required for an acquisition to take place.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Phil right now seething, going to the coffers to find extra bars of gold to throw at them.

He must own all IP, it's his life long ambition.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Nintendo management can obviously make recommendations and tell shareholders whether they think the move is a good idea or not.

But it's the shareholders who make the actual decision, not management.
So in that case, did Nintendo shareholders laugh MS out of the room? I thought it never went to them, and the execs just shunned that idea right away.
 

GHG

Member
To be clear I'm not making any predictions over what will happen or what Microsoft will do.

I was just pointing out that, technically, Board and management approval is not required for an acquisition to take place.

While technically a BOD agreement is not required in rarer scenarios (hostile takeovers), typically it is. Capcom are not talking about a potential hostile takeover bid here, that much is clear. If not they wouldn't be speaking from a position of absolute authority.

If Microsoft want to go down the road of one of the aforementioned rarer scenarios (whether it's for Capcom or any other Japanese business) then I wish them well.

Morgan Freeman Good Luck GIF
 
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Gojiira

Member
From Japan either Konami or Square-Enix, since both clutch on a single franchise to survive - Metal Gear & Final Fantasy, respectively.

The rest needs to stay untouched.
Konami belongs with Playstation…Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Castlevania etc has WAAAAAYYYYY more relevance and history with PS and Ninty than it ever has with Xbox…
Its why none of these stupid acquisitions make sense, Metal Gear as a Xbox exclusive? 🤢 I’d rather give up gaming..
No Xbox needs to actually have a pipeline in place first, its now the single largest publisher yet it has the absolute worst track record with so few releases its a joke. Sort that shit out first before even thinking ‘hurr durr needz moarz stubios…’, it should go without saying at this point.
 
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