Andre Yoskowitz
8 Jun 2016 22:59
Media conglomerate Vivendi SA has bought out the founding family of Gameloft, increasing their majority stake in the French mobile gaming company.
The Guillemot family owned nearly 22 percent of the company while Vivendi controlled 56 percent of Gameloft's voting rights before the acquisition. Somewhat strangely, the company says they sold their shares "with regret" and the "family maintains that Vivendi's hostile approach goes against the best interest of Gameloft, both for its activity and for its teams."
Vivendi valued the company at about $800 million USD. Gameloft, which has hit games using their own IP and IP of other companies, had sales of about $300 million last year.
The Guillemot family also controls Ubisoft, of which Vivendi now has a 17.7 percent stake, with many in the industry expecting another hostile bid for the large gaming publisher. Ubisoft, however, has a $4.5 billion value, multiple times that of Gameloft's.
Source:
WSJ