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Activision buys itself back from Vivendi for $8 billion
Activision Blizzard has reached a deal to buy itself back from Vivendi for over $8 billion. After the split, Activision Blizzard will be an independent company again, with a majority of its shares owned by the public. Bobby Kotick will remain CEO, with Brian Kelly as Chairman. Financially troubled French conglomerate Vivendi is out...well, not totally out, it still retains 83 million shares or about 12 percent of the company. The price for Activision Blizzard's departure from Vivendi is roughly $5.83 billion in cash for 429 million shares. On top of that, Kotick, Kelly and others are purchasing 172 million shares from Vivendi for $2.34 billion. The math in both sums is some heavy multiplication of $13.60 per share. "These transactions together represent a tremendous opportunity for Activision Blizzard and all its shareholders, including Vivendi," said Kotick. "We should emerge even stronger – an independent company with a best-in-class franchise portfolio and the focus and flexibility to drive long-term shareholder value and expand our leadership position as one of the world's most important entertainment companies." He continued, "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." Vivendi had been trying to sell its stake in Activision Blizzard for over a year now with no luck. A rather understandable predicament when Vivendi owned 702 million shares (61 percent) of Activision's 1.15 billion outstanding shares. At today's closing price, those shares were worth about $10.7 billion. We're not sure pooling all the change found between all the couch cushions in all the world would get us that type of dough.
Strapped-for-cash Vivendi goes looking in Activision Blizzard's till
Financially strapped conglomerate Vivendi wasn't able to sell off its controlling interest in Activision Blizzard, but it's looking to get money out of the $4.4 billion cash and asset-flush publisher through other means. The Financial Times (via Reuters) reports Vivendi will try some boardroom maneuvers to obtain a massive payout. Coincidentally, the play Vivendi is reportedly trying to pull off is nearly identical to a theory published by Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter in May. And it goes a little something like this: July 9 (tomorrow) is the five-year closing date of the $18 billion Activision and Vivendi merger, which means Vivendi will have the ability to nominate a majority of Activision's board of directors. After that, the board could take out a mega loan, and initiate a dividend (a standard payment given to shareholders). "Borrowing of $5 billion would permit a dividend of $8.5 billion. As the holder of 61 percent of Activision's common stock at March 31, 2013, we estimate Vivendi would receive approximately $5.2 billion in cash, easing its mounting debt concerns," wrote Pachter. Pachter told Joystiq in follow-up, "Vivendi needs money and as of tomorrow, controls Activision. Activision has money. It's pretty easy to reach an appropriate conclusion from those two facts." If you're wondering why Vivendi doesn't just find a buyer for its Activision shares instead of all this intrigue, Vivendi currently owns 702 million of Activision's 1.15 billion outstanding shares. At face value, that's worth $10.15 billion. Vivendi can make half that and keep its ownership of Activision through this other maneuver.
Vivendi still trying to sell Activision-Blizzard
French telecom company Vivendi is still looking to sell off gaming giant Activision-Blizzard, according to the Wall Street Journal. Vivendi announced its quarterly results yesterday and also said that Acti-Blizz's board of directors is still weighing multiple sale options for a company that's been up for grabs since the summer of 2012. GamesIndustry.biz reports that Activision-Blizzard was worth more than $8 billion when it was put on the open market.
Apple TVs in Germany gain movie and TV subscription service Watchever
German Apple TV users have a new app and service on their devices. Matthew Panzarino at The Next Web reports that German subscription video on demand service Watchever has found a place on the home screen of the diminutive puck. Watchever is similar to Hulu, offering German, European and international TV series and movies. For €8.99 a month, the service provides a choice of German-dubbed versions of international movies or the originals. Like Netflix, Watchever makes recommendations of TV shows and movies that may be interesting to you. The service is new; it was launched by Vivendi earlier this month. Other subscription-based apps currently gracing the screens of Apple TV owners include the MLB, NBA and NHL apps in the US. Provided that Apple has worked up a deal with Vivendi to split revenues from Watchever on the Apple TV, similar on-demand subscriptions services could end up being a significant source of income for Apple. German Apple TV users can reboot their Apple TVs to gain the Watchever icon.
Europe approves Universal - EMI merger, cements the dominance of the 'big three'
The European Union has signed off on Universal's $1.9 billion purchase of EMI music, provided that it sells off two-thirds of the fallen giant's assets to comply with competition regulations. The most notable jewel on the auction block is label Parlophone, home of the early Beatles records, Pink Floyd, Radiohead and Kylie. Chiefs added the conditions in the hope of preventing the new mega-corporation from gaining too much market share, but given that Sony (which bought EMI's publishing arm) and Warner Music are its only real competitors -- it's sealed the trio as the only guests at the top table of the music industry, problematic for anyone looking to found an iTunes or Spotify rival and doesn't fancy playing by their rules.
Report: Activision stock may rise 50 percent with Pandaria, CoD Online
Activision Blizzard may see its share price increase as much as 50 percent as it prepares to launch the Mists of Pandaria expansion for World of Warcraft and Call of Duty Online in China, financial newsweekly Barron's reports. Activision Blizzard is currently trading at $11.25, after reporting Q2 earnings above expectations but below the previous year, bringing in $1.08 billion.Investors expect shares could reach a high of $17 due to Mists of Pandaria's launch in September and Activision's partnership with Chinese Internet provider Tencent Holdings to launch the free-to-play game Call of Duty Online, potentially in "mid-2013," Barron's says. The Chinese gaming market generated $7 billion and included 160 million gamers in 2011, and is expected to grow by 20 percent this year to cash in more than $9 million in 2014.Activision Blizzard's shares have fallen 10 percent this year, while the broad market has gained 11 percent. Parent company Vivendi was looking to sell its 61 percent stake in Activision Blizzard earlier this year, but it appears those efforts have shifted focus.
Forbes: Activision's dependence on declining WoW subs 'potential for a catastrophic situation'
With the recent news of World of Warcraft's struggling subscription numbers fresh on our minds, Forbes investigated WoW's primary shareholder and predicted trouble on the horizon for investors. "After looking into Activision Blizzard, Inc., we discovered an amazing looking company that is unfortunately almost completely sustained by the revenue it reaps from one game, World of Warcraft," the authors notes. "When considering that the same company has a 60% majority shareholder (Vivendi) looking to sell its shares in the company you get the potential for a catastrophic situation." Because Vivendi is having difficulty unloading Activision, Forbes says that any sharp decline in World of Warcraft's revenue will drag down Vivendi's stock severely. The authors also note that the company will suffer from the launch of Guild Wars 2: "The bottom line here is that gamers like to start on level playing fields. Gamers love to save money. Gamers are always in a frantic rush to play superior games. These three factors are the main reasons why Guild Wars 2 will win over market share from WoW." [Thanks to Mike for the tip!]
Jukebox Heroes: Chance Thomas talks about scoring Turbine's expansions
For many Lord of the Rings Online players, the name Chance Thomas is synonymous with the feel of virtual Middle-earth. From the earliest days in the game, explorers have traversed the Shire, Moria, and beyond listening to Thomas' melodies. So we were excited to hear that Turbine is bringing Thomas back to score not only Riders of Rohan (his first soundtrack for the game since Mines of Moria) but also Dungeons and Dragons Online: Menace of the Underdark as well. Thomas is an Oscar- and Emmy-winning composer who's been working primarily in the field of video game music since 1998. Being a huge fan of MMO soundtracks, I made it a personal quest to talk with him about these two new scores and how he feels about working in this genre. In the weeks ahead, I'll be reviewing both Rohan and Underdark's soundtracks, but today I wanted to focus on the man behind the music. Join me, then, as we embark on a voyage to worlds far away, sailing on the wings of a song. Geez, that's cheesy, ain't it?
Reuters: Vivendi finds 'few takers' on Activision stake sale, eyes other departments
Vivendi's planned sale of its 61 percent controlling stake in Activision is apparently waning, according to Reuters. Vivendi is said to be eying a sale of Brazillian telecommunications company Global Village Telecom (GVT), which would bring in anywhere from $8.59 to $10.42 billion – a distinctly larger number than the $8.3 billion Vivendi's stock in Acti is worth. Vivendi reportedly sought "at least 12 percent" more than the $8.3 billion stock valuation, which potential buyers turned down (Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and several other companies were reportedly offered the stock).Vivendi is a French conglomerate, and it's not in great financial shape. In an effort to shore up capital, it reportedly sought a sale of its controlling stake in Activision, turning to its GVT wing less than two months later in a similar effort. The French conglomerate purchased its stake in Activision back in 2007, forming what is now known as Activision Blizzard in the process.Economically minded readers may notice that Vivendi's interest in retaining control of Activision began declining along the same downward slope as the international economy. Though Vivendi's current financial situation is more complicated than "bad economy, sell parts of business," the worldwide recession surely can't be helping its standing.
Research firm says League of Legends tops WoW as most-played PC game
Well, it's official (sort of). The World of Warcraft-killer has been named, and they're calling it League of Legends. A research firm known as DFC Intelligence has released a report claiming that Riot's MOBA was the most popular PC game in North America and Europe last year in terms of hours played. The title took home the top spot with 1.3 billion hours of activity, while WoW dropped to second place with 622.4 million user hours. The numbers purportedly represent "a list prepared by extrapolating from actual usage data from more than 21 million Xfire members." The top 10 list also includes MOBAs and MMOs like Heroes of Newerth, Diablo III, MapleStory, and World of Tanks.
Pachter: Activision Blizzard spinoff 'far more likely' than Vivendi sale
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has weighed in on recent speculation suggesting Vivendi would get rid of its stake in Activision Blizzard, following mounting reports that the French conglomerate is trying to sell the game publisher.Although a sale is "likely the preferred route" for Vivendi, Pachter wrote in a investor note, there aren't any "readily apparent buyers." Running through the list of suitors, it's noted that companies like Tencent Holdings have reportedly payed out $400 million and $600 million to acquire Riot Games and a minority stake in Epic Games, respectively, but those numbers still pale in comparison to Activision's worth at over $10 billion.Acquisitions by Electronic Arts, Time Warner and Disney usually stay below a billion. Viacom did a $500 million write-off on its Harmonix debacle. It's also unlikely that any of the console manufacturers would purchase Activision Blizzard, since they would have to cannibalize sales. Activision's franchises du jour, like current champ Call of Duty, make so much money because they are available on every major platform.Pachter believes the more likely outcome is a spinoff of Activision Blizzard. It would require some fancy financing on the back end, but it would give Vivendi an estimated $5 billion in cash, easing its personal burden. After the spinoff, Pachter feels Activision's shares would rise according to how much cash the company generates every year, paying off its debts. Wedbush maintains an "outperform" rating for Activision Blizzard.
Rumor: Vivendi looking to sell Activision-Blizzard stake
Rumors are swirling about the possible sale of Activision-Blizzard after the departure of Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Levy this week. Vivendi owns 61% of Acti-Blizz, and Levy reportedly walked over a disagreement about splitting up the French holding company. How this affects Activision-Blizzard remains to be seen, but Bloomberg says that Vivendi is looking to sell its entire stake, according to "a person with knowledge of the situation." The Wall Street Journal says that Vivendi's board of directors is mulling whether or not to split the company, which could potentially affect Blizzard and its World of Warcraft and Diablo III titles.
Rumor: Vivendi plans to sell Activision Blizzard
Bloomberg reports that Vivendi is looking to sell its 61 percent holding in Activision Blizzard, according to "a person with knowledge of the situation." If they are unable to find a purchaser for the entire $8.1 billion stake, they will attempt to sell part of it on the open market. Again, this is just a rumor, but the CEO of the French Company just quit this week during a board meeting, reportedly due to a disagreement about selling off the huge telecommunication and media company's assets. The Wall Street Journal reports that "people familiar with the matter" claim that the board is considering splitting up Vivendi outright. Until the rumor is confirmed and the success of the sale or spinoff is resolved, we will not know the fate of Blizzard or World of Warcraft. Those who say the sale of Blizzard to the merger of Blizzard and Activision brought down the quality of the game may laud the situation, while others will add this to the many reasons they claim that WoW is doomed. But speculation is just that, and we'll keep an eye out for actual facts as they happen.
Report: Vivendi looking to sell 'part or all' of majority stake in Activision
Activision's French multimedia conglomerate parent company, Vivendi SA, is said to be considering a sale of its 61 percent controlling stake in the US-based Call of Duty publisher. Bloomberg reports that Vivendi is holding a meeting on June 22 to discuss the potential for a sale of "part or all" of its Acti holdings. The report comes from "people with knowledge of the matter," who refused to be identified due to the privacy of the June 22 event.A Vivendi representative confirmed the upcoming executive get together, but didn't discuss the specifics of the meeting. Said meeting has taken place annually since 2005, and the rep noted it's intended as "a forum of exchange and discussion, not for quick-fix decisions or solutions."Vivendi and Activision came together in 2007, creating Activision-Blizzard as a result of the merger. Vivendi sold three percent of its Activision stock in late 2011, but kept approximately 60 percent of its holdings. Since today's report, Vivendi's stock rose 3.7 percent in Paris markets.Update: To help contextualize some of this super business-y madness, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter told Joystiq, "Some believe Vivendi is worth more if it is split up into various parts. The potential split doesn't really mean anything for Activision, other than a lot of shares on the market all at once. I don't think a sale is likely, as there are few potential buyers, if any. Instead, it makes more sense for Vivendi if they have Activision borrow a lot of money and pay a dividend of all of its cash. Spin it off to Vivendi shareholders." He added that he's not sure if the report is accurate or not.
Activision-Blizzard stocks drop amidst selloff rumors
Activision-Blizzard has certainly done well for itself over the past year. World of Warcraft may have seen a slight dip in subscriptions, but that hasn't made the company any less profitable. But rumors are swirling that owner Vivendi may be looking to sell off the company, either lowering its current 61% share or selling it off entirely. Vivendi will discuss its exact plans in its meeting with investors on June 22nd. In light of these rumors, shares of Activision-Blizzard have dropped 3.3%, while shares of Vivendi have grown 3.8%. Vivendi as a whole saw a net 28% drop in stock price over the past year, so the company is looking for infusions of cash, but considering Activision-Blizzard's upcoming titles (including the new World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria), we can't help but wonder if selling the house might be a bit premature. We'll have more on this story and the impact for both companies as it develops.
Vivendi sells $427 million in Activision Blizzard stock
French media conglomerate Vivendi, majority owner of Activision Blizzard, sold three percent of its stock in the publishing giant, valued at around $427 million. It now owns 60 percent. The reduction of ownership in the company that, thanks to a little game called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, just had the largest entertainment launch of all time, came as a surprise. As the Financial Times reports, the prevailing theory is that Vivendi's $1.9 billion acquisition of EMI's music business last week required the company to create some quick cash to stay sexy on paper. "The wisdom of selling about three percent in a business that is one of the key bastions of growth for the group to aid a transformational acquisition in a challenged business, such as recorded music, seems questionable," Claudio Aspesi of Bernstein Research told the Financial Times. "This is a tactical disposal with regards to our overall capital structure, and we remain committed to Activision and to being the main shareholder," a Vivendi spokesman told Reuters. The company is gonna have to be if it wants to keep siphoning assets for its portfolio from a shrinking industry.
The Road to Mordor: Double dragons
Last week Turbine released the concept art for one of its major bosses from the upcoming Rise of Isengard expansion: Draigoch. With it came a number of appropriate "oohs" and "ahhs," and no doubt raiders began thinking up uses for a giant dragon skull in their homes. But there was also a crowd that popped out to cry foul about lore molestation -- that this was a blatant example of Turbine pandering to MMO players by including the expected dragons even when the lore shouldn't support it. A couple examples of quotes, first. "Yet whatever way you cut this idea, how can you integrate another dragon into the story? Smaug was the last one of his kind," Contains Moderate Peril complains. A commenter on our article sniped, "So Turbine's decided to entirely drop the pretense of sticking to the lore, then?" Ouch. As much as I am totally not attached to MMO lore in general, I feel like this might be a good time to both address this particular argument and also the larger one of Turbine's approach to Tolkien's world. Are giant dragons lore-breaking? Does Turbine simply not care about remaining faithful to source material? Do you have my decaf light mocha with cinnamon sprinkles?
The Game Archaeologist and the What Ifs: Middle-earth Online
I had so much fun walking down the halls of "What if?" last week that I thought I'd keep the streak going for the rest of the month (if you'll allow for some summertime indulgence). It's not that I necessarily wanted MMO history to turn out differently than it did, but it's always tantalizing to wonder what the field would look like with different games out there. Would they have proven more popular than our current crops? Would they have pushed the envelope of innovation? Of course, it's easy to project greatness onto never-released titles, bemoaning that "if only MMO X had launched, we would've had the perfect game!" What ifs are interesting but should never be taken as absolute fact. This week I wanted to look at a project that's related to an MMO near and dear to my heart. As most of you know, I'm somewhat of a Lord of the Rings Online nut here at Massively. Sure, the rest of the staff is upset that I smoke pipeweed inside and never wear shoes, but that's just how far I go to understand the game. But even my LotRO isn't immune to a massive what if. Known to some but not to all, Turbine wasn't the first MMO studio to take a crack at Tolkien's license -- no, for that we have to travel back to 1998 and revisit Sierra On-Line. It was this company that had a brief but memorable run designing Middle-earth Online, aka "What if LotRO had permadeath?" It's a fascinating glimpse into an entirely different approach to the IP, and even though it died a fairly early death, it's important to be remembered. Frodo lives!
Vodafone exits France, collects billions while selling its stake in SFR
Even though we'd much rather be getting our paws all over a new phone, shakeups in the mobile world seem to be a trendy thing as of late, leading us to report that Vodafone has announced the sale of its 44 percent share in French carrier SFR to partner Vivendi. The €7.75 billion deal is leaving the media conglomerate with a 100 percent ownership in France's second largest cellular network, though Voda and SFR have agreed to "maintain their commercial cooperation" for the good of mankind. In case the news slipped by you, the world's wealthiest telecom has been on a selling streak recently, also divesting itself of minority stakes in China and Japan -- all while freeing up gobs of capital to focus on its more strategic markets.Considering Vodafone owns a 44 percent share in Verizon Wireless, the opportunity is ripe for speculation of what it may do next. While analysts opine that the company may attempt to sell its share in VZW back to Verizon, others see consolidation in the air, hinting that it may do the unthinkable and make a pass at Sprint. While Verizon's CEO has done his utmost to extinguish this rumor, if it were true, the last thing they'd want to do is give it merit -- the result being either driving Sprint's price up, or pushing Verizon's stock down -- depending on the whims of investors. You can now thank us for writing a business article without a single mention of regulators, options or dividends. Oh, wait... there it is.
Vivendi boss says Activision is over Infinity Ward drama, studio 'reconstructed'
Jean-Bernard Lévy, chairman and chief exec. of Vivendi, which has a controlling interest in Activision Blizzard, noted that the megapublisher has "reconstructed" Infinity Ward. The Financial Times reports that, at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference, Lévy stated, "We have reconstructed Infinity Ward, we are very happy with the way we have been able to reconstruct it." Lévy claims Activision "got over" all the Infinity Ward drama from earlier this year, which likely came much easier with the help of the record-breaking success of Call of Duty: Black Ops, which made Treyarch the top cog in the Call of Duty development mill. Call of Duty currently has (at least) three studios developing titles: Infinity Ward is apparently working on Modern Warfare 3, Sledgehammer Games is delivering the 2011 installment for the franchise and Treyarch's project is currently classified. Meanwhile, Jason West and Vince Zampella, the former studio heads of Infinity Ward, who started Respawn Entertainment after their firing, have started from "absolute zero" on a project for EA Partners.
