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Home News Activision-Blizzard Now For Sale, Only $8.1 Billion!

GAMING NEWS

Activision-Blizzard Now For Sale, Only $8.1 Billion!

Posted on Monday, July 2 @ 14:48:35 Eastern by


Several days ago, Bloomberg reported that Vivendi was seeking to sell its $8.1 billion stake in Activision Blizzard almost immediately after its chief executive resigned last week.

This drastic move is meant to boost the value of Vivendi's stock from an almost nine-year low and safe the company from a warning from Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings to reduce its liabilities.

Some have blamed mismanagement to be the cause while others have called the current video game market as a high-risk, low-margin industry and one that is in transition with the soon emergence of next-gen consoles and the rise of social media games.

It may just be in Vivendi's best interest to cut their losses short and sell their shares as high as they can. Blizzard's subscriptions in World of Warcraft have been dropping, Diablo III hasn't been as successful as it could have been, and Activision's Call of Duty franchise may be running out of ideas. It would seem that, in Vivendi's view, Activision Blizzard is already passed their prime and sell at a time they believe the developer's value has peaked.

That being said, who should buy Activision Blizzard? What do you think they should do to turn things around?
Related Games:   World of Warcraft
Tags:   Vivendi, Activision Blizzard


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Comments
  • OdiousLupous
    OdiousLupous
    Joined: Jul 2011
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 2:51 pm
    Would the quality of WoW and D3 improve under new ownership? If so, sell.
    0 0
  • ReinhardtBII
    ReinhardtBII
    Joined: Oct 2007
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 3:23 pm
    Everyone knows, Interplay should buy Activision. Anyone who says differently is obviously an enemy of the state.
    0 0
  • Chunibrow
    Chunibrow
    Joined: Mar 2010
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 3:44 pm
    The most successful MMORPG, the fastest selling PC game of all time and one of the best selling franchises in video game history... They may not be what they once were or could have been but if you can't make success out of these 3 franchises you should be slapped.
    1 0
  • Noritama
    Noritama
    Joined: Feb 2012
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 4:33 pm
    makes sense about the profit margin being long in the gaming industry. I don't see anyone really buying them out any time soon.
    0 0
  • tinymhg
    tinymhg
    Joined: Jun 2011
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 4:54 pm
    EA should buy them.
    1 1
  • OdiousLupous
    OdiousLupous
    Joined: Jul 2011
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 6:16 pm
    Only if John Madden voices an npc in WoW and D3.
    0 2
  • Herb211
    Herb211
    Joined: May 2009
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 4:58 pm
    Hmmmlemme look in my couch cushions....I'll take a crack at it...
    0 0
  • sliverstorm
    sliverstorm
    Joined: Jun 2007
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 5:21 pm
    Vivendi is a massive conglomerate, and their ownership of Activision Blizzard (a 61% stake) is just a small part of the organization. They currently have about $15 billion in debt. They want to sell their Activision-Blizzard stake in order to generate the cash to pay down their debt, which will allow them more flexibility in restructuring their organization.

    The impetus for this change is not the performance of Activision-Blizzard, or the state of the video-game industry in general. It is the exit of VIvendi's former CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy, who was bitterly opposed to breaking up Vivendi (even though it is a collection of corporations with little synergistic value to each other).

    Vivendi's stock jumped five and a half points when Lévy left (he was basically forced out by the board, as best I can interpret), and now Vivendi is following through on its strategy by selling off unrelated assets, starting with the one that is easiest to market.

    It's as simple as that. ATVI is fine.
    0 1
  • sliverstorm
    sliverstorm
    Joined: Jun 2007
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 5:34 pm
    Just reread this post, and I come off as a huuuuuuge *******. Apologies!

    That said, this move really is more about Vivendi's performance as a conglomerate than it is about Activision-Blizzard's performance as a video game company.
    0 0
  • OdiousLupous
    OdiousLupous
    Joined: Jul 2011
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 6:17 pm
    Kickstarter to make it mutually owned like season tickets at Lambeau, lets all get some of that sub pie.
    0 0
  • Ranim
    Ranim
    Joined: Nov 2005
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 7:02 pm
    Something tells me that somebody other than the big names in gaming will take the stock
    0 0
  • Lien
    Lien
    Joined: Feb 2008
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 7:34 pm
    "Blizzard's subscriptions in World of Warcraft have been dropping"
    Last i checked, the number of paying subsciber was still 10.2 million... still a lot!
    1 0
  • Imnickson
    Imnickson
    Joined: Jul 2006
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 8:22 pm
    Wouldn't it be an odd turn of events if Take-Two bought the company that was threatening to buy them out a couple years ago.
    0 0
  • friggest
    friggest
    Joined: Mar 2008
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 9:34 pm
    Can I just buy Blizzard without Activision?
    0 2
  • Klandathu
    Klandathu
    Joined: Apr 2008
    Posted: Jul 2nd, 2012 at 10:38 pm
    I'll search my couch cushions for loose change. Do you guys do layaway?
    1 0
  • Ashalar
    Ashalar
    Joined: Jan 2008
    Posted: Jul 3rd, 2012 at 1:15 am
    I'd fork over the cash, but I forgot my paypal password.
    0 0
  • Odbarc
    Odbarc
    Joined: Apr 2007
    Posted: Jul 3rd, 2012 at 1:27 am
    Why did they ever merge with Activision to begin with?
    0 0

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