Paris-based Vivendi is approaching to Ubisoft & Gameloft (led by the Guillemot brothers) in a suspicious way. The latter company’s 30% of the shares are already owned by Vincent Bolloré-led Vivendi, so Ubisoft is preparing for the worst possible outcome.
According to Kotaku, Ubisoft‘s strategy is to find Canadian, long-time investors for the company. Why are they doing this? It’s simple: Yves Guillemot and co are afraid of a hostile takeover. Instead of Vivendi sitting down to talk with the Ubisoft execs, they just keep slowly raising the stakes by buying the stocks.
If a hostile takeover happens, it would be affecting the market of video games badly. Vivendi would be able to shut down existing studios and their games with ease. Even if we consider the past of this company (creating the Activision Blizzard conglomerate!), kicking out developers would not be a pleasant sight. It makes sense why Ubisoft is taking a defensive stance.
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