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Funcom has hired a merger firm to price Funcom.

As I said before (when my thread was unceremoniously deleted) Funcom is being bought out by EA or Activision.

http://www.funcom.com/investors/funcom_initiates_review_of_strategic_alternatives

Following completion and launch of the modern-day, 
massively multiplayer online game, 'The Secret
World', Funcom N.V. has retained ABG Sundal Collier
and GP Bullhound to undertake a broad review of the
strategic options available to the company. Funcom
will update shareholders and other stakeholders about
the outcome of the review and potential other
developments in due course.

GP Bullhound is the merger firm, and Sundal Collier is probably the financing catalyst.


Should not less than a year for the buyout to happen, as I reported earlier.

Edit:  For those less familiar with mergers and acquisitions, you would not bring on both the bank and the merger company unless you had serious buyers.  If you were merely scoping the market out, Funcom would have only hired GP Bullhound.  This means a buyout is imminent.

And on that note, Funcom is priced at an all-time low of 1.36 today (25 cents U.S. per share).  There should be no question that the company will be purchased for more than this:  makes its purchase a no brainer as a stock.

And this is from someone who has shorted the company twice in 4.5 years (wow time flies).

 

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Comments

  • FrodoFraginsFrodoFragins Member EpicPosts: 5,898
    I can't imagine anyone buying them.  The only marketable property they have is AoC and Conan isn't mainstream enough for a company to need to buy before the game shuts down or the license expires.
  • muffins89muffins89 Member UncommonPosts: 1,585
    im curious as to why you think EA or Activision would be interested in such a horrible idea.
  • KenzeKenze Member UncommonPosts: 1,217


    Originally posted by muffins89
    im curious as to why you think EA or Activision would be interested in such a horrible idea.
    I'm thinking Frogster or GamersFirst

    Watch your thoughts; they become words.
    Watch your words; they become actions.
    Watch your actions; they become habits.
    Watch your habits; they become character.
    Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
    —Lao-Tze

  • muffins89muffins89 Member UncommonPosts: 1,585
    Originally posted by Kenze

     


    Originally posted by muffins89
    im curious as to why you think EA or Activision would be interested in such a horrible idea.

    I'm thinking Frogster or GamersFirst

     

    possibly Nexon?  cant see ea or activision doing this. 

  • FromHellFromHell Member Posts: 1,311
    Originally posted by muffins89
    im curious as to why you think EA or Activision would be interested

    Because Funcom are the best and most innovative game developers on the planet, also they have the best MMO engine ever developed.

    AoC is great, TSW is even better, Anarchy Online was the best SciFi MMO ever and gets a graphic update soon.

    I´d buy them if I were Activision.

    Or even better DISNEY should buy them, and give them a liscense to make a Star Wars MMO

    Secrets of Dragon?s Spine Trailer.. ! :D
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwT9cFVQCMw

    Best MMOs ever played: Ultima, EvE, SW Galaxies, Age of Conan, The Secret World
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2X_SbZCHpc&t=21s
    .


    .
    The Return of ELITE !
    image

  • Dahkot72Dahkot72 Member Posts: 261

    No they aren't selling. They are doing fine. Nevermind TSW failed horribly in sales according to Funcom themselves , I like the game thus everything is fine and /covers ear nahh nahh nahh nahh.

     

    That about cover the head in sand crowd who refuses to see the writing on the wall for Funcom ?

  • gamesrfungamesrfun Member Posts: 127

    Like i said about 3 weeks ago, it is EA or Activision. 

    Inside information from an employee there.

    My warning before when my thread was deleted was that it was "pure speculation". 

    I would hope the mods would read and see that GP Bullhound is a merger firm ONLY...and would only be hired if Funcom was on cusp of being acquired.

    The fact that the financing instrument (the bank) is involved also (two expensive retainers) is additional conclusive proof.  An offer has been made and now it is a matter of whom it was, and whether it will be accepted.

    The only difficulty is convincing the major shareholders to take a 85-95% hit on their original investment.  I would hazard a buyout of more than 2.50 NOK is not going to happen, resulting in at least an 80% loss since going public.

     

  • VyethVyeth Member UncommonPosts: 1,461

    One would hope that Gamersfirst takes them over.. But realisticly, I see EA or even possibly Sony grabbing those IP's (I bet Sony is more interested in just obtaining the Secret World IP because it seems much like the game they were looking to make in The Agency which never quite made it)

    Maybe even Perfect World? lol.. nahh.. Can't see that..

  • FromHellFromHell Member Posts: 1,311
    Disney please buy them and give them a Star Wars license.. !

    Secrets of Dragon?s Spine Trailer.. ! :D
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwT9cFVQCMw

    Best MMOs ever played: Ultima, EvE, SW Galaxies, Age of Conan, The Secret World
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2X_SbZCHpc&t=21s
    .


    .
    The Return of ELITE !
    image

  • FromHellFromHell Member Posts: 1,311

    TSW is now profitable (source go google yourself)

    TSW is not going F2P anytime soon (source go google yourself)

    As a handful of people here you would like every title on the planet fail and go F2P - this one is not.

    Even AoC is not F2P by the way, the expansions are the coolest content and that is not for free

    Secrets of Dragon?s Spine Trailer.. ! :D
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwT9cFVQCMw

    Best MMOs ever played: Ultima, EvE, SW Galaxies, Age of Conan, The Secret World
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2X_SbZCHpc&t=21s
    .


    .
    The Return of ELITE !
    image

  • gamesrfungamesrfun Member Posts: 127
    Originally posted by FromHell

    TSW is now profitable (source go google yourself)

    TSW is not going F2P anytime soon (source go google yourself)

    As a handful of people here you would like every title on the planet fail and go F2P - this one is not.

    Even AoC is not F2P by the way, the expansions are the coolest content and that is not for free

     TSW is not profitable.  My source is Funcom's actual financial reports. 

    TSW will go f2p when the new company decides it should go.  The developers obviously will have no say in it.  

    TSW already failed:  it is Funcom's last MMORPG and last game developed solely by the company.  That is the epitomy of fail.

     

  • KenzeKenze Member UncommonPosts: 1,217


    Originally posted by FromHell
    Originally posted by muffins89 im curious as to why you think EA or Activision would be interested
    Because Funcom are the best and most innovative game developers on the planet, also they have the best MMO engine ever developed.

    AoC is great, TSW is even better, Anarchy Online was the best SciFi MMO ever and gets a graphic update soon.

    I´d buy them if I were Activision.

    Or even better DISNEY should buy them, and give them a liscense to make a Star Wars MMO



    lol good one!

    Watch your thoughts; they become words.
    Watch your words; they become actions.
    Watch your actions; they become habits.
    Watch your habits; they become character.
    Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
    —Lao-Tze

  • FrodoFraginsFrodoFragins Member EpicPosts: 5,898
    Originally posted by FromHell

    TSW is now profitable (source go google yourself)

    TSW is not going F2P anytime soon (source go google yourself)

    Baghdad Bob says you beat him to it:

     

  • Ambros123Ambros123 Member Posts: 877
    Originally posted by FromHell

    TSW is now profitable (source go google yourself)

    TSW is not going F2P anytime soon (source go google yourself)

    As a handful of people here you would like every title on the planet fail and go F2P - this one is not.

    Even AoC is not F2P by the way, the expansions are the coolest content and that is not for free

    They why ohhh why did their stocks plummet?  Why did their lead story writer which why many catered ot the game go somewhere else and became a "consultant"?  Why is it that they are being bought out now?  Why did they have layoffs, maybe even multiple layoffs if I recall right? 

    If TSW was so successful then all these things would not have happened.  In several of my multi-MMOs guild has TSW been moved to active games which means small amounts of people of the guild play it.

    All F2P MMOs typically charge for their expansions, look up Turbine's expansions.  It's not hard for MMOs to be profitable, the question is if it is profitable enough to the shareholders/execs.

  • Odinthedark1Odinthedark1 Member Posts: 330
    If they're bought out, would they still have the same horrible customer service? If they change the CS i just might give TSW a try.
  • WhitebeardsWhitebeards Member Posts: 778
    Originally posted by Ambros123
    Originally posted by FromHell

    TSW is now profitable (source go google yourself)

    TSW is not going F2P anytime soon (source go google yourself)

    As a handful of people here you would like every title on the planet fail and go F2P - this one is not.

    Even AoC is not F2P by the way, the expansions are the coolest content and that is not for free

    They why ohhh why did their stocks plummet?  Why did their lead story writer which why many catered ot the game go somewhere else and became a "consultant"?  Why is it that they are being bought out now?  Why did they have layoffs, maybe even multiple layoffs if I recall right? 

    If TSW was so successful then all these things would not have happened.  In several of my multi-MMOs guild has TSW been moved to active games which means small amounts of people of the guild play it.

    All F2P MMOs typically charge for their expansions, look up Turbine's expansions.  It's not hard for MMOs to be profitable, the question is if it is profitable enough to the shareholders/execs.

    Because FC doesn't make fast food mmos like WOW and GW2 for mass consumption. AO, AOC, TSW though had their problems but atleast FC tries not to make MMOS which are solely made to beat WOW.

    I could care less who buys FC and if these MMOS didn't sell in millions because AO and TSW are brilliant and innovative MMOS which will always have its dedicated playerbase.

  • Insane666Insane666 Member UncommonPosts: 67
    Originally posted by Whitebeards
    Originally posted by Ambros123
    Originally posted by FromHell

    TSW is now profitable (source go google yourself)

    TSW is not going F2P anytime soon (source go google yourself)

    As a handful of people here you would like every title on the planet fail and go F2P - this one is not.

    Even AoC is not F2P by the way, the expansions are the coolest content and that is not for free

    They why ohhh why did their stocks plummet?  Why did their lead story writer which why many catered ot the game go somewhere else and became a "consultant"?  Why is it that they are being bought out now?  Why did they have layoffs, maybe even multiple layoffs if I recall right? 

    If TSW was so successful then all these things would not have happened.  In several of my multi-MMOs guild has TSW been moved to active games which means small amounts of people of the guild play it.

    All F2P MMOs typically charge for their expansions, look up Turbine's expansions.  It's not hard for MMOs to be profitable, the question is if it is profitable enough to the shareholders/execs.

    Because FC doesn't make fast food mmos like WOW and GW2 for mass consumption. AO, AOC, TSW though had their problems but atleast FC tries not to make MMOS which are solely made to beat WOW.

    I could care less who buys FC and if these MMOS didn't sell in millions because AO and TSW are brilliant and innovative MMOS which will always have its dedicated playerbase.

    yeah, funcom always had a thing for doing something of their own, not just copy/pasting the flavor of the year game,, they always go for a unique setting ( ao was one of the very few sci fi mmos for a decade ), and while they simplified post ao they're still beating most games avaible on the market (imo),,,

     

    just wish they'd finally finished the new engine for ao - from my personal subjective point of view, its the best fking game ever

    Games previously played: AO, AoC, Aion, AoW, Eve, SWTor, WaR, STO, TSW, DCUO, FE, BP, ProjectEntropia, FootballSuperstars!

  • GaoxinGaoxin Member UncommonPosts: 198

    Because FC doesn't make fast food mmos like WOW and GW2 for mass consumption. AO, AOC, TSW though had their problems but atleast FC tries not to make MMOS which are solely made to beat WOW.

    I could care less who buys FC and if these MMOS didn't sell in millions because AO and TSW are brilliant and innovative MMOS which will always have its dedicated playerbase.

     

    This is only true to some degree. AO was a disaster at release. Got patched and was great till Shadow Lands, when it became a disaster once again. AoC was buggy as hell, lacked content and was overall incomplete at its release.

    Funcom have or had a great creative team, but thats about it. I hope its not EA, who buys em.

  • WhitebeardsWhitebeards Member Posts: 778
    Originally posted by Insane666
    Originally posted by Whitebeards
    Originally posted by Ambros123
    Originally posted by FromHell

    TSW is now profitable (source go google yourself)

    TSW is not going F2P anytime soon (source go google yourself)

    As a handful of people here you would like every title on the planet fail and go F2P - this one is not.

    Even AoC is not F2P by the way, the expansions are the coolest content and that is not for free

    They why ohhh why did their stocks plummet?  Why did their lead story writer which why many catered ot the game go somewhere else and became a "consultant"?  Why is it that they are being bought out now?  Why did they have layoffs, maybe even multiple layoffs if I recall right? 

    If TSW was so successful then all these things would not have happened.  In several of my multi-MMOs guild has TSW been moved to active games which means small amounts of people of the guild play it.

    All F2P MMOs typically charge for their expansions, look up Turbine's expansions.  It's not hard for MMOs to be profitable, the question is if it is profitable enough to the shareholders/execs.

    Because FC doesn't make fast food mmos like WOW and GW2 for mass consumption. AO, AOC, TSW though had their problems but atleast FC tries not to make MMOS which are solely made to beat WOW.

    I could care less who buys FC and if these MMOS didn't sell in millions because AO and TSW are brilliant and innovative MMOS which will always have its dedicated playerbase.

    yeah, funcom always had a thing for doing something of their own, not just copy/pasting the flavor of the year game,, they always go for a unique setting ( ao was one of the very few sci fi mmos for a decade ), and while they simplified post ao they're still beating most games avaible on the market (imo),,,

     

    just wish they'd finally finished the new engine for ao - from my personal subjective point of view, its the best fking game ever

    Amen.

    It was ahead of it times when it was launched and still is. I haven't played any MMo which offered such a challenging customization for characters. I have spent hours upon hours trying to fit in symbs and carefully spending points in my builds. AO is best sci fi MMO.

  • Dahkot72Dahkot72 Member Posts: 261

    Funcom's problem isn't usually their actual game or ideas , it's their implementation of it.

    They ruined any chances of AO being the hit it should have been with what many rank as the worst launch of an mmorpg.

    Which is a shame because AO had great ideas and gameplay , but had people immediately leave the week of launch , and the bad press they got for that horrific launch doomed it to small numbers forever.

    And  TSW should have been worked on another 6-9 months , gotten more features in at launch , better customer service , don't launch an mmorpg where chat breaks for a month after launch etc.

    They could have launched AFTER GW2 had a few months or more of folks playing and people ready to look at something else  , AFTER the WoW expansion and with no major mmorpg launch on the horizon at all.

    I honestly think they could have done much better but for whatever reason , launching not ready , a couple months before two mammoth mmorpg's were coming out in new and expansion form , it's another Funcom fiasco.

  • ShakyMoShakyMo Member CommonPosts: 7,207
    It's obvious ea will buy them, two ex ea guys on the funcom board.
  • RightlovRightlov Member Posts: 72
    Originally posted by Odinthedark1
    If they're bought out, would they still have the same horrible customer service? If they change the CS i just might give TSW a try.

    Well, you clearly have no clue what you're talking about - TSW, when launched, had the industry's very best costumer service. They had a Live-Chat support open most of the 24 hours a day, which would give an answer in less than five minutes on average. Technical and generel email support, which usually took a little longer, since it was more complex tasks than the Live-Chat would manage. Support on the forums, both technical and generel - very fast responses. Ingame GMs, and plenty of them (unfortunately the ticket system was made though, so it wouldn't stay active, if you logged out). And just in generel good developer interaction. All in all, very impressive - and far, far better than Age of Conan, if that's where you last experience orign from.

    When that's said, the CS isn't quite the same anymore, since they laid off 50%+ of the staff. Still though, it's definitely not too bad. So if that's what holding you back, you definitely have no excuse for staying away anylonger. Patch 1,4 just hit the servers - try it out! :)

  • GR3NDELGR3NDEL Member UncommonPosts: 112

    The report is from October 22nd - so I'd imagine the review's results will be announced around November 23rd, when Funcom's Q3 results are released.  Could it be a bad thing?  Of course it could.  Could it be a good thing?  Yep.  Other than that, there's not much to say... there's already enough speculation on this thread.

    In the meantime, I'll keep playing - and enjoying - TSW.

     

    image

  • OrtwigOrtwig Member UncommonPosts: 1,163
    Originally posted by GR3NDEL

    The report is from October 22nd - so I'd imagine the review's results will be announced around November 23rd, when Funcom's Q3 results are released.  Could it be a bad thing?  Of course it could.  Could it be a good thing?  Yep.  Other than that, there's not much to say... there's already enough speculation on this thread.

    In the meantime, I'll keep playing - and enjoying - TSW.

    Agreed.  As a side note on the speculation, the OP seems to have made it his life's mission to spell doom for the company, evidently due to struggles with AoC by the looks of his post history.  Nice job posting two identical threads on the day of a major update to TSW, btw.

    And while I can sympathize with being disappointed in a game company...give it a rest, man -- it's not worth it.

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