 | | |
12-02-2007, 02:38 PM
|  | ALTMAN BE PRAISED | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Ohio
Posts: 4,010
| | | Vivendi and Activision to Merge
" Vivendi said Sunday it will merge its video game division with Activision Inc. in an $18.9 billion deal that will give Vivendi a majority stake in the combined company.
The deal will create a video game publisher that will rival industry leader Electronic Arts in terms of annual revenues.
The deal will also bring together some of the hottest franchises in the game sector. Activision publishes the "Guitar Hero" series -- one of this year's best-selling game franchises -- as well as the popular "Tony Hawk" and "Call of Duty" series.
Vivendi is a big force in online and PC games. The company owns Blizzard Entertainment, which publishes the popular "World of Warcraft" online multi-player game.
Under the agreement, Vivendi will merge its games unit with Activision. Vivendi's game division is valued at $8.1 billion, and the French entertainment and telecom giant will contribute another $1.7 billion in cash that will give it a stake of approximately 52% in the combined entity, to be called Activision Blizzard.
After the deal closes, Activision Blizzard will launch a $4 billion all-cash tender offer to buy up to 146.5 million of its own shares. Vivendi will acquire an addition $700 million worth of newly issued shares, giving it a 68% ownership stake in the new company once the tender offer is complete.
Activision CEO Robert Kottick will serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard while Bruce Hack, current CEO of Vivendi Games, will serve as vice chairman and chief corporate officer of the new company." Vivendi, Activision strike $18.9 billion merger deal - MarketWatch
__________________   |
12-02-2007, 03:55 PM
|  | m00tini! | | Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Some Hotel Somewhere
Posts: 16,872
 : 78 th | | | holy crap! that's a huge deal if you think about it. Activision and Vivendi have each tried to acquire huge dev houses in the past (Activision tried to buy IdSoftware and Vivendi, as you may recall, was involved with Valve for years). This move could possibly lead to more acquisitions...oh, and the chance to kick EA in the cyber-sack is a great thing, they have WAY too much sway in this industry right now |
12-02-2007, 04:09 PM
|  | Pyro Suicide Rush | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: northeast
Posts: 1,181
: 83 rd | | "The new company, Activision Blizzard, is expected to have approximately $3.8 billion in pro forma combined calendar 2007 revenues and the highest operating margins of any major third-party video game publisher." Free Preview - WSJ.com
Yea, pretty big boost for Vivendi. you can also check out a little FAQ on teh WoW forums. WoW Forums -> Activision Blizzard FAQ
__________________ aka MOJO (commence lag-out)
aka Hal 9000 Quote:
Originally Posted by CoffeeShark  | |
12-02-2007, 05:39 PM
|  | Lurker Extraordinare | | Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: USA
Posts: 507
| | | Let's see what they're first few games are before I get too excited.
__________________ Sager 5793 bought from Justin Nolte at XoticPC
WUXGA 1920x1200, T9300 2.2 GHz Penryn C2D @ 800MHZ, 512MB nVIDIA 8800M, 2GB DDR2 667MHz, 100GB 7200RPM HDD, Kitchen Sink
Status: Home. Big ass review being written as we speak.  Sager 8790 Review here
Status: Still fighting after 3 years  |
12-02-2007, 05:51 PM
| | Pyro Suicide Rush | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: northeast
Posts: 1,181
: 83 rd | | | From the WoW FAQ
Q: Will Activision and Blizzard now share development teams?
A: No, both of our companies will continue to operate as they have previously with regard to game development.
__________________ aka MOJO (commence lag-out)
aka Hal 9000 Quote:
Originally Posted by CoffeeShark | |
12-02-2007, 07:44 PM
|  | Gimme ur moneyz...NOW!!! | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: The Dairy State
Posts: 1,345
: 63 rd | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Boogieman117 | 
i dont wanna get my hopes up too soon. even though chances are they will be great. but ya never know.
__________________ 
Teh Rig: GA-P31-S3G || E2180 @ 2.8 || Asus V-60 HSF || 8800GS || Mushkin 2GB || Antec Earthwatts 500W |
12-03-2007, 03:11 PM
|  | The Kage | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Texas
Posts: 98
| | | Im scared. And excited at the same time. Is that weird?
Why didnt they just come up with a new name for the merged company? How bout Active Blizzard. Or Blizzactive, Blactive, Blizzive, Blizzizleactivizzleforshizzle.
__________________  |
12-03-2007, 03:48 PM
|  | Platanos con salami... | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: The Bronx
Posts: 1,690
| | | hahah, word they shoulda came up with something along those lines. It sounds like a great step-up for both, let's hope they don't start turning games to crap now. and yeah whoopin EA would be awesome. |
12-03-2007, 04:06 PM
| | ALTMAN BE PRAISED | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Ohio
Posts: 4,010
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by Punisher07
Why didnt they just come up with a new name for the merged company? How bout Active Blizzard. Or Blizzactive, Blactive, Blizzive, Blizzizleactivizzleforshizzle.
| ACTIVIZZARD!
__________________ |
12-03-2007, 04:24 PM
| | The Kage | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Texas
Posts: 98
| | | Also, could we hope that they dont try to make a World of War 2 series FPSRPGMMORPG? that would bite.
__________________ |  | |
LinkBacks (?)
LinkBack to this Thread: http://www.straferight.com/forums/game-industry-buzz-rumors/174854-vivendi-activision-merge.html | | Posted By | For | Type | Date | | StrafeRight | This thread | Refback | 12-02-2007 03:25 PM |
|
