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Activision Blizzard to separate from Vivendi in $8.2 billion deal

Call of Duty publisher purchases business for $5.83 billion in stock; Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly to personally contribute $100 million as part of the deal.

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Game publisher giant Activision Blizzard will separate from its parent, Vivendi, the company has announced; the deal is reportedly worth $8.2 billion.

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The buyback was orchestrated by Activision Blizzard’s management team, in conjunction with investors. As a result of the trade, the controlling stake in the business will be owned by shareholders.

The purchase will see around 429 million shares change hands, totalling roughly $5.83 billion in cash. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and co-chairman Brian Kelly are responsible for the purchase of 172 million shares, worth an estimated $2.34 billion. The pair have personally contributed $100 million to secure the sale. As a result, Brian Kelly will become sole chairman under the restructure, with Vivendi retaining a minority 12 percent stake in the business.

In a statement following the news, Kotick said the change represents a significant opportunity for Activision Blizzard moving forward. "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."

Activision Blizzard currently expects to report $4.31 billion in revenue for this financial year, up from a previous forecast of $4.22 billion for the period.

In May this year, Vivendi chief financial officer Philippe Capron said the company was exploring a "variety of options" to unload the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft company. Potential purchasers included Microsoft, Time Warner, Tencent, and Disney, as well as private equity organisations.

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hadlee73

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hadlee73

Now I feel better about the cost of that $5 milkshake I had earlier.

5 • 
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Hurvl

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Edited By Hurvl

@hadlee73 Hah, that doesn't sound very expensive from where I come from, which is Sweden. Norway is even worse, but Sweden is quite "bad" as well.

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Pupchu

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Pupchu

@Hurvl Norway IS worse, thats why i travel to Svinesund... :P

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Kooken58

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Kooken58

@hadlee73 Did it bring the boys to the yard?

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vamroc

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vamroc

" I don't know if it's worth five dollars but that's a pretty fracking good milkshake" HAHAHA

4 • 
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DarkManiaN_1979

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DarkManiaN_1979

Vivendi trying to palm A/B off to another company when Blizzard's revenue monthly is alone enough to fund a small country.

2 • 
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thorn3000

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thorn3000

@DarkManiaN_1979 perhaps not enough for them, for gaming indutry Blizzards revenue might be astronomical, but for large companies who just do their business by buying and selling companies, such revenues might be small peas when compared to oil companies and so on

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AngelsongCA

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AngelsongCA

This explains why they are now supporting Wii U. They need to refill the coffers.

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acelogan1989

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acelogan1989

lol

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Master_Turismo

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Master_Turismo

Did Vivendi just recently sold its stakes in Maroc Telecom?

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Hiddai

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Hiddai

:-0

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DeViLzzz

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Edited By DeViLzzz

.... meanwhile people still are starving and dying for no reason and people don't have homes and are living on the street etc etc etc

I honestly don't give a **** about your kajillion dollar deal.

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19James89

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19James89

To celebrate let's go out and buy Call of Duty Ghosts for a laugh.

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deathwish026

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deathwish026

il become a ghost before i buy that garbage lol

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Hurvl

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Hurvl

@deathwish026 "You best start believing in ghost stories, Mr deathwish026... you're in one." No wait, that's Barbossa, not Davy Jones.

2 • 
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19James89

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19James89

@deathwish026 I don't blame you, my post was totally sarcastic from the first word to the last.

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Frozensky

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Frozensky

I could see this being a good move for Vivendi. Bail out of the ship because there's icebergs ahead. It's risky, sure, but so are the icebergs.

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hough06

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Edited By hough06

@Frozensky When does the CoD and WoW games hit those icebergs... I give it 3 years. For some reason I feel like people are starting to pay attention and say... "Hey... I'm spending $60 dollars for the same game year in and year out..."


WoW has been dying for years... this last expansion has really put the nail in the coffin.

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Lhomity

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Edited By Lhomity

@hough06 I've heard better predictions from Michael Pachtner.

CoD still sells in ridonkulous numbers, and will continue to, because they still have a massive, devoted audience who love CoD for what it is. In spite of some people who still haven't figured out why CoD never changes.

And there are still enough silly people who buy CoD expecting it to magically be different to last year's - people who should stop buying CoD already and find another shooter. Activision won't change CoD, and they would be COMPLETELY MENTAL if they did. CoD is it's own genre now. They have a successful formula and they're sticking to it.

WoW is still above 8 million subscribers (which is still more than what that they had for most of TBC). And they still have Titan up their sleeves.

And then there's Skylanders. Phenomenal success. Prints money.

Activision are in no danger whatsoever.

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_el_Greco_

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_el_Greco_

@Lhomity More and more people are turning away from WoW. It will take a pretty long time for the subscriptions to drop to a significant number, but that will happen at some point. Although they're far from having to worry, Blizzard can't rely on WoW forever. Also, I wouldn't say that Titan is up their sleeve. It's more like back in the card packet. Development on it has been almost entirely halted and the game pushed even further back. My assumption is that the game concept was great for 2010, but the past few years have made Blizzard realize that they would be coming up short, so they had to go back to the drawing board.

But you're right overall. Activision-Blizzard are in very little danger. But I don't see them being as successful in the future as they were in the past decade if they decide to churn out the same old, tired games. The worst part is that gamers will be the ones that lose the most out of all this.

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19James89

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19James89

@hough06 @Frozensky Hell people have been doing that with Fifa football/soccer for like twenty years.

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richten71

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richten71

@hough06 The first console to have a HD was the PS2. But if you're saying the first console to come with a HD, than it would be the Xbox.

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hough06

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Edited By hough06

@19James89 @Frozensky It's all about snagging as much money as you can.

A lot of these companies try to keep the same design as long as possible so they can churn out the most money possible. The only people losing in this deal is the consumer. Conservative in game develop screws us and I know several of my friends fall for that same design.

If its always changing... they don't like it. They lock it in keep to what they know and like. Lack's growth and potential. Without risk, the gaming community wouldn't be where it is today without systems like the SEGA Genesis or the Dreamcast... Xbox... the first system with a HD... etc.

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hough06

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hough06

@19James89 @hough06 @Frozensky People play FIFA for the GM part of the game play. Madden has ruined that year and year out.


Same goes for NCAA... have you seen the quality recently? We're far from the 2004 era of the great Sport's game.

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