Activision paid nearly $100 million for RedOctane [update 1]
RedOctane has come a long way from being an online video game rental service. The Guitar Hero publisher was recently purchased by Activision, but now it has been revealed via an SEC filing just how much RedOctane was worth to them:
$30.9 million in cash
$30 million worth Activision common stock (approximately 2.4 million shares)
$39 million in Activision common stock "within two years of the closing date" (June 6, 2006)
Culminating in a $99.9 million deal. Would it have been so hard, Activision, to fork over another $100,000 for a more well-rounded figure? Certain RedOctane shareholders may also earn $51 million depending on the success of Guitar Hero II, as explained in this thoroughly vague and confusion statement:
"In addition, in the event the net income of the business over a certain period of time exceeds certain target levels by certain amounts, certain former shareholders of RedOctane will be entitled to an additional amount of up to $51.0 million payable in shares of Activision common stock."
Does that mean anything? We're pretty certain it doesn't.
[update 1: made a Freudian slip, called RedOctane the developer of Guitar Hero, which is highly inaccurate (they're the publisher). Sorry about that.]
