Vivendi seized control of Gameloft, aims for UBi next

[zMeul]

source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-01-vivendi-has-seized-control-of-guillemot-brothers-mobile-publisher-gameloft

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A few months back Vivendi purchased 30 per cent of Gameloft and was tempting shareholders to part with their stock by offering 50 per cent over the market value for their shares. Vivendi's strategy paid off as it's now in charge of Gameloft, the publisher behind Asphalt and Modern Combat.

 

"You work for a company that is already one of the most renowned and creative in the mobile games segment worldwide," Vivendi said in a letter addressing Gameloft employees. "We are convinced that Gameloft, with Vivendi's backing, can be more ambitious in its growth plans. In a rapidly-evolving market, your company, which needs industrial and financial backing to develop, will be able to count on our full support and commitment."

 

oh snap!

 

the Guillemont family is scrambling around Yves Guillemot to fortify his position against a VIvendi takeover

according to Bloomberg, Michel Guillemot (CEO of Gameloft) will resign and will join his brother over at Ubisoft:

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Gameloft SE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michel Guillemot plans to resign after shareholders backed Vivendi SA’s hostile bid for the video game company he founded, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named as the information is private.

 

as of right now, Guillmont family owns 15% of the board votes

Vivendi owning 18% of Ubi's capital have asked for a board representative, but will not seek control ... for now

[vanished]

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offering 50 per cent over the market value for their shares

somehow that seems like it wouldn't be allowed, but I don't know why...

Interesting though.  It sounds like they actually care about the company and want to make them better, so we can only hope they come for Ubi!  

[Mr.Meerkat]

Hue hue hue...I worked for gameloft last summer as work experience so you know  

[handymanshandle]

Why is Vivendi trying to sort of make some sort of Video Game Studio conglomerate?

[Derangel]

2 minutes ago, wcreek said:

Why is Vivendi trying to sort of make some sort of Video Game Studio conglomerate?

They regret giving up control of Acti-Blizz and want to get back into the video game business.

[handymanshandle]

1 minute ago, Derangel said:

They regret giving up control of Acti-Blizz and want to get back into the video game business.

I thought before Activision, Vivendi soley owned Blizz?

[suicidalfranco]

just bend over and take it without complaining, sheesh 

[PlayStation 2]

Considering that Vivendi doesn't fucking know what they're doing and Ubisoft at least has a basic idea of what they're doing, I hope that Ubi doesn't get taken over by Vivendi.

[Suika]

25 minutes ago, wcreek said:

I thought before Activision, Vivendi soley owned Blizz?

Activision merged with Blizz while Blizz was still owned by Vivendi, and then Activision-Blizzard split from Vivendi.

[dalekphalm]

20 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Considering that Vivendi doesn't fucking know what they're doing and Ubisoft at least has a basic idea of what they're doing, I hope that Ubi doesn't get taken over by Vivendi.

As much as Ubisoft makes the occasional dumbass decision, they still consistently make some of the better games in the AAA industry, and they're a very successful company.

 

I personally don't support this - I hope the Guillemot family can rally enough money to ensure that they gain or retain majority shares.

 

But, this just goes to show that if you make a company a publicly traded entity, you should retain majority shares if you want to guarantee something like this doesn't happen.

[vanished]

2 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

As much as Ubisoft makes the occasional dumbass decision, they still consistently make some of the better games in the AAA industry, and they're a very successful company.

I don't know about you, but I tend to prefer my characters with a full head, not just the eyes and teeth

[handymanshandle]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I don't know about you, but I tend to prefer my characters with a full head, not just the eyes and teeth

Hey I've played Rainbow Six Seige on my PS4 and not being an avid FPS player, it gave me quite a bit of a challenge. Though maybe that was because I was playing on an inferior platform.

[dalekphalm]

3 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I don't know about you, but I tend to prefer my characters with a full head, not just the eyes and teeth

I don't know about you... but I think she's kinda hot

[Megazero]

I will say that Rainbow Six is one of the better FPS in recent memory (though with Overwatch now I dont think I will play it again anytime soon) so... kudo to Ubi for that.

Who's Vivendi anyway? what do they do? how are they related to gaming?

[vanished]

2 minutes ago, wcreek said:

Hey I've played Rainbow Six Seige on my PS4 and not being an avid FPS player, it gave me quite a bit of a challenge. Though maybe that was because I was playing on an inferior platform.

I'm not surprised it was hard: try headshoting this:

Spoiler

 

[handymanshandle]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I'm not surprised it was hard: try headshoting this:

  Hide contents

 

That'd be interesting.

[vanished]

Just now, wcreek said:

That'd be interesting.

Yes.  Yes it would

 

and to keep this on topic, this is why we need whoever to come in and show Ubi how it's done - I mean, things cant really get worse than ^^ that ^^, can they?

[dalekphalm]

2 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Yes.  Yes it would

 

and to keep this on topic, this is why we need whoever to come in and show Ubi how it's done - I mean, things cant really get worse than ^^ that ^^, can they?

Well... yeah it can. Vivendi kind of had a reputation for buying studios and canning amazing franchises (See Homeworld, for example. Sierra was the publisher, and Vivendi's game division got itself into financial troubles and that lead to the demise of Homeworld (Until the IP was bought by Gearbox))

[Belgarathian]

1 hour ago, wcreek said:

Why is Vivendi trying to sort of make some sort of Video Game Studio conglomerate?

Likely IP, and staff. The more you have, the more potential you have to make more $$$. That and they obviously see both these companies as either undervalued, or have value that isn't being realised under current management or without their help. 

[dalekphalm]

3 minutes ago, Belgarathian said:

Likely IP, and staff. The more you have, the more potential you have to make more $$$. That and they obviously see both these companies as either undervalued, or have value that isn't being realised under current management or without their help. 

I wouldn't even say that they think the companies are undervalued even - Ubisoft, for example, makes almost $600m Euro a year in profit... I think Vivendi just wants a piece of that sweet sweet pie.

 

Plus, Vivendi likely wants to diversify themselves more by getting back into a thriving industry. Diversification is pretty crucial for any multi billion dollar company.

[Belgarathian]

5 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

I wouldn't even say that they think the companies are undervalued even - Ubisoft, for example, makes almost $600m Euro a year in profit... I think Vivendi just wants a piece of that sweet sweet pie.

 

Plus, Vivendi likely wants to diversify themselves more by getting back into a thriving industry. Diversification is pretty crucial for any multi billion dollar company.

Just because it makes $600m a year profit doesn't mean it's not undervalued... If Venvendi can take some of their IP and combine it with Ubi, spend $10m, cut some costs and then make $800m next year it's well worth the investment. 

 

It's nothing new, we've been seeing consolidation in some very mature industries such as motorvehicles since the '70s. 1+1 sometimes equals 3. 

 

You don't buy something for the sake of buying something unless you see better returns than any other investment (as long as the nett economic cost of the investment is >$0, and your NPV is positive it's a sound investment). 

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, Belgarathian said:

Just because it makes $600m a year profit doesn't mean it's not undervalued... You don't buy something for the sake of buying something unless you see better returns than any other investment (as long as the nett economic cost of the investment is >$0, and your NPV is positive it's a sound investment). 

Certainly, but they don't have to be undervalued for Vivendi to see a healthy fat ROI.

 

I could see Gameloft as being "undervalued", but even then, that company is seeing pretty steady increases in revenue every year.

 

It's not undervaluing a company to clearly see each year they are increasing their revenue and profit by leaps and bounds.

[Belgarathian]

7 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Certainly, but they don't have to be undervalued for Vivendi to see a healthy fat ROI.

 

I could see Gameloft as being "undervalued", but even then, that company is seeing pretty steady increases in revenue every year.

 

It's not undervaluing a company to clearly see each year they are increasing their revenue and profit by leaps and bounds.

Very true, but I highly doubt they're buying the Ubi shares to be a silent investor and sit on their dividends and capital gains. 

 

You're also missing what I'm saying... I never said that they are undervalued, I said they might be. That and they probably see more value on Ubi than they're current market value by combining some of their expertise, IP, and supply chain. You see this all the time with JVs, acquisitions, and partnerships. The sum of the business components is worth more than the individual value of each component (1+1=3).

[dalekphalm]

2 minutes ago, Belgarathian said:

Very true, but I highly doubt they're buying the Ubi shares to be a silent investor and sit on their dividends and capital gains. 

 

You're also missing what I'm saying... I never said that they are undervalued, I said they might be. That and they probably see more value on Ubi than they're current market value by combining some of their expertise, IP, and supply chain. You see this all the time with JVs, acquisitions, and partnerships. The sum of the business components is worth more than the individual value of each component (1+1=3).

Oh I certainly see what you're saying. But there's a lot of maybes in there. Vivendi is a mixed bag as a company. Their previous experience with gaming industry does not fill me with loads of hope for making Ubi "better". More profitable? Perhaps - but at the expense of the consumer, I would guess.

 

This move might be good for Vivendi, and it might be good for Ubisoft investors, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily good for Ubisoft itself or for the consumer.

 

But we shall see if they are even able to achieve a hostile takeover. I don't know how much money Yives Guillemot has that isn't already tied up in Ubisoft Stocks, but he and his family are very wealthy, so we'll see how they handle this.

 

If Vivendi is able to gain more shares, we'll see what their actions are soon enough.

[Belgarathian]

1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

Oh I certainly see what you're saying. But there's a lot of maybes in there. Vivendi is a mixed bag as a company. Their previous experience with gaming industry does not fill me with loads of hope for making Ubi "better". More profitable? Perhaps - but at the expense of the consumer, I would guess.

 

This move might be good for Vivendi, and it might be good for Ubisoft investors, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily good for Ubisoft itself or for the consumer.

 

But we shall see if they are even able to achieve a hostile takeover. I don't know how much money Yives Guillemot has that isn't already tied up in Ubisoft Stocks, but he and his family are very wealthy, so we'll see how they handle this.

 

If Vivendi is able to gain more shares, we'll see what their actions are soon enough.

Completely agree... Their track record is pretty appalling for the consumer. 

 

Likely a good investment for Vevendi though.