As part of its ongoing ambition to establish a presence in the video game industry, Vivendi is now considering a hostile bid for Ubisoft before the year’s end.
Citing anonymous sources familiar with the plans, Bloomberg reports that Vivendi, which now holds 25 percent of Ubi’s equity, is on the verge of lodging a bid for the video game publisher by the end of 2017, despite strong opposition from the Guillemot family, who founded Ubisoft in the ’80s.
Should the company’s market share increase, though — Ubisoft currently has a market value of 5.5 billion euros ($6.2 billion) at the time of writing — Vivendi will reportedly seek gaming partnerships overseas (e.g. Asia) as a means of strengthening its stake in the video game industry. A representative from Vivendi declined to comment on the matter.
Back in April, we brought you the news that Vivendi had identified two targets as part of its expansion plans: advertising company Havas and Assassin’s Creed studio, Ubisoft. Exactly how that strategy will pan out remains to be seen, but at least for now, a Vivendi takeover continues to be a very real possibility for Ubisoft. And that’s despite the latter achieving respite late last year after garnering support from investors.
Vivendi has been circling the publisher since its split with Activision Blizzard almost two years ago. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, meanwhile, has been critical of Vivendi’s advances.
[Source: Bloomberg]
