[quote][B]Activision in $8.2 Billion Deal to Buy Back Stake From Vivendi[/B]
Activision Blizzard, the world’s biggest video game publisher, has a reached an $8.2 billion deal to separate from Vivendi and become an independent company.
Under a deal that was announced early Friday, Activision Blizzard and a group of investors led by the company’s management will buy back shares owned by Vivendi, the French conglomerate that controls the video game maker, leaving a majority of Activision Blizzard’s shares held by the investing public.
Activision Blizzard will buy about 429 million of its shares shares and certain tax attributes from Vivendi for roughly $5.83 billion in cash, or $13.60 a share, the company said. In addition, Robert A. Kotick, 50, the chief executive, and Brian Kelly, the co-chairman, are leading a group in buying about 172 million shares of the company from Vivendi for about $2.34 billion.
Vivendi will retain a stake of about 12 percent, or 83 million shares, in Activision Blizzard, the company said. Mr. Kotick will continue to lead the company and Mr. Kelly will become the sole chairman, according to the terms of the deal.
The transactions are a “tremendous opportunity” for Activision Blizzard, the maker of popular game franchises like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Diablo, Mr. Kotick said in a statement.
“We should emerge even stronger,” he said. “The transactions announced today will allow us to take advantage of attractive financing markets while still retaining more than $3 billion cash on hand to preserve financial stability.”
The deal represents the latest corporate maneuver for Mr. Kotick, an entrepreneur who, over more than two decades, has built Activision Blizzard into a giant with a market capitalization of nearly $17 billion.
He bought the company that would become Activision in 1990, when it was nearly bankrupt, and proceeded to raise money from investors. In 2008, Mr. Kotick led one of the biggest video game mergers in history when he combined Activision with the games division of Vivendi, a unit that mostly consisted of Blizzard Entertainment.
Activision Blizzard, which is based in Santa Monica, Calif., has had a number of hits recently, notably Call of Duty.
Activision Blizzard, which is based in Santa Monica, Calif., has had a number of recent hits, including the multibillion-dollar franchise Call of Duty. The latest edition of the game, released in November, had sales of $500 million in its first 24 hours.
Speculation emerged over the past year that Vivendi would look to sell its stake in Activision Blizzard. With the deal announced on Friday, Activision Blizzard is betting it can prosper on its own.
The group of investors led by Mr. Kotick and Mr. Kelly — which also includes Davis Advisors, Leonard Green & Partners and Tencent — is expected to have roughly a 24.9 percent stake in the company. Mr. Kotick and Mr. Kelly have personally committed $100 million.
Activision Blizzard plans to finance the deal with about $1.2 billion of cash on hand and roughly $4.6 billion of debt, raised through the markets and bank financing. The company expects to have $1.4 billion of net debt after the deal, which is expected to close by the end of September.
A special committee of independent directors of Activision Blizzard was formed to evaluate the transaction, the company said. It is being advised by Centerview Partners and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Activision Blizzard is being advised by JPMorgan Chase and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, while the investor group is getting advice from Allen & Company and Sullivan & Cromwell.
The video game maker said on Friday that it expected to report net revenue of about $1.05 billion for the second quarter, using generally accepted accounting principles, with earnings per share of 28 cents. It plans to announce the full results for the second quarter on Aug. 1.[/quote]
[url=http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/activision-in-8-2-billion-deal-to-buy-back-stake-from-vivendi/?_r=0]Source[/url]
this is really cool actually
Behind every well known company there always seems to be a monster of a parent company that I've never heard of. I'm not much of a business person, nor do I know what the previous deal/contract was, but becoming independent from Vivendi them sounds good!
Crossing my fingers, this could be a real turnaround for Blizzard.
now blizzard should break free from activision
[QUOTE=brennahan;41599387]Behind every well known company there always seems to be a monster of a parent company that I've never heard of. I'm not much of a business person, nor do I know what the previous deal/contract was, but becoming independent from Vivendi them sounds good![/QUOTE]
Don't know how you've not heard of Vivendi, they used to publish games under their own brand back in the day (e.g. Simpsons Hit & Run)
i remember when Vivendi was good
remember VU games?
yeah...
[QUOTE=No Party Hats;41599514]i remember when Vivendi was good
remember VU games?
yeah...[/QUOTE]
Also wasn't Vivendi Valve's publisher back in the day?
[QUOTE=SA Spyder;41599627]Also wasn't Vivendi Valve's publisher back in the day?[/QUOTE]
didn't they [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valve_Corporation#Valve_vs._Vivendi_case]fuck it up[/url]
[QUOTE=Hendo;41599457]now blizzard should break free from activision[/QUOTE]
They are effectively already separate entities. Blizzard publishes their own games and has their own corporate management. Activision has nothing to do with their operation. Activision Blizzard is the name of the holding company.
[QUOTE=Raidyr;41600168]They are effectively already separate entities. Blizzard publishes their own games and has their own corporate management. Activision has nothing to do with their operation. Activision Blizzard is the name of the holding company.[/QUOTE]
NO BUT DON'T YOU SEE? THE KOTICK IS LITERALLY GAME-HITLER
[QUOTE=Hendo;41599457]now blizzard should break free from activision[/QUOTE]
Technically Blizzard and Activision are two independently administrated company, Blizzard's CEO is Mike Morheim, Activion's is Bobby Kotick. Just the stock and shares are tied, however, it's Bobby Kotick that has the most control of that.
So it's a matter of Blizzard moving back into a private company, or regaining their own independent stocks.
YES. FAITH SOMEWHAT RESTORED.
Eh I dunno how much this really changes things. If Vivendi is the "cause" to all their bad shit lately then it will really help, but I doubt that.
Vivendy wanted some billion dollars they were entitled to as dividends from the giant pile of money in the Activision-Blizzard treasury. Their stake in Activision-Blizzard was also valued in billions.
So $8.2 billion covers the dividends + the stake?
[QUOTE=zugu;41600609]Vivendy wanted some billion dollars they were entitled to as dividends from the giant pile of money in the Activision-Blizzard treasury. Their stake in Activision-Blizzard was also valued in billions.
So $8.2 billion covers the dividends + the stake?[/QUOTE]
Iirc they wanted ~3 billion from Activision-Blizzard, this seems to be that + 5 billion to get rid of Vivendi.
YES! Vivendi was the reason for many of the wrong turns in World of Warcraft, especially in Cataclysm.
I hope this means activision will start being better
If they get better expansions or WoW I might play again.
[QUOTE=Jessey;41601120]Iirc they wanted ~3 billion from Activision-Blizzard, this seems to be that + 5 billion to get rid of Vivendi.[/QUOTE]
Great move from Kotick, though, he struggled to find investors and shit, cause otherwise Vivendi would have milked them dry.
I do wonder how this will affect the games themselves.
Surprised no Queen video yet.
[QUOTE=Lamarr;41602200]Surprised no Queen video yet.[/QUOTE]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Zo4AVL7AE[/media]
Better late than never, m'boy!
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