Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Vivendi has a price set for Activision Blizzard
Xiaoki
Member EpicPosts: 3,848
....and it's $8.1 billion.
Vivendi is looking to sell both Activision and Blizzard.
If a buyer can not be found then they will sell a portion of their remaining stake in the 2 developers.
Even though CoD and WoW are both billion dollar a year franchises that price tag puts it out of the ballpark of nearly every publisher out there. Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for Skype so this may get interesting.
Comments
From article:
“The problem is there are no readily apparent buyers for Activision,” Pachter said. “The only option left to Vivendi is to lever up Activision’s balance sheet and pay out all of its cash as a dividend, then spin the company off.”
Activision-Blizzard has atm 3.48 in cash and short-term investments. That would be taken over by Vivendi. ~ 40% if it's entire worth.
That would be interesting. Activision-Blizzard totally cleared out of all money and with totally severed ties from Vivendi?
That would result in very deep and very fast restructurization - to keep necessary money flow in company.
Propably some of studios closed or sold off, some of IP's sold off.
Worst case scenario for Acti - total chopping whole company to pieces and those pieces buyed out by other companies or going bankcrupt.
I hope Blizzard sells off to a different company than Activision as Activision has been making some horrible decisions these last 6 years.
*checks wallet*
hmm ... can they wait a few millennia?
Take out a loan
Yes I played SWTOR.
Biggest issue would be the 'buyer' as there isn't one that is immediately apparent.
Apple can but won't as Acti-Blizz doesn't fit with their culture or their vision.
Their biggest rival EA can't as they don't have the funds.
Sony probably can but won't as they have bigger issues to deal with.
MS could but I can't see a good business case for it. Which means it'll be MS. Just like it made no sense for them to buy Skype but they did.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
I wonder why Nexon hasnt showed up like they did trying to buy EA
thats a high-mark, which in the end could pay off for the invester(s), who put their money together to get this company. I could see a few korean based publishers or maybe a big house like MS buying them.They could end up not being sold, which honestly would be sad. This is why staying a private company, has its big ups for times like these, i hope they end up getting sold.
To rojo up above me, it could probably be, they invested tons of money in NCsoft.
Who would you guys like to see make the buy here?
#TeamVainlash
Why did Marceline's dad eat her fries? I mean...cause she bought them and they were hers...
I know that I shouldn't sell myself short, but I think I would have a hard time pulling off that pitch.
oh yeah i forgot about that... Also, for some reason i dont want MS to get involved in this. Maybe some Korean publishers.
It would create shockwaves if MS bought them and made Acti-Blizz IPs all Xbox exclusive.
It'll be hilarious and generate so many tears. :P
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
or adding kinect to WoW o.O
ew
GG Sony buys Activision Blizzard...
CoD is a Sony PS4 exclusive, and SoE owns WoW.
GG!!!!
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
It's not like Activision Blizzard have done much on the MMO front since 2004.
I'd be worried if it were a company that produced good MMO's consitently, not one mammoth from 8 years ago.
Maybe the US government could buy it. It would be a way better investment than what they did with Solyndra and other stupid eco energy companies...
Scratch that idea! They would force us all to play MoP and deny us GW2.
I wouldn't wish that on the WoW crowd, and I don't even play it
#TeamVainlash
Why did Marceline's dad eat her fries? I mean...cause she bought them and they were hers...
I can just see the next expansion, World of Warcraft: War on Terror
#TeamVainlash
Why did Marceline's dad eat her fries? I mean...cause she bought them and they were hers...
This! THIS!!!
It'll be epic! hahaha!
On a serious note, companies that has 8 billion available for a straight up buy is very limited which probably means it'll be a sell off.
Apple, Sony, MS is probably it really.
Course I'm not counting non-gaming related companies like IBM, Samsung etc.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
It would be funny if Blizzard bought controlling share in Blizzard. There is always Bethesda, and Square Enix who have been buying up developers. However, Bethesda has a certain eye when it comes to developers they buy up. Also there is EA, the grim reaper of game developers. There is also Nexon...
OOOOOOOooo Vindictus style combat in WoW... That could actually turn it around.
(This was in reply to Nexxon buying out Blizzard)
Even if Nexon would not buy some NCSoft shares they would not have enough money / loan capabilities to buy all Activison-Blizzard shares from Vivendi.
Sony propably could loan enough money BUT they won't. Sony is in quite a bit trouble atm, generating heavy losses so they are not in 'buying mode' - they rather sell (european SoE players & operation) rather than buy. Besides with that kind of losses they generate, huge loan for Activison-Blizzard activision would be on rather unfavourable terms.
I don't see any game company buying all of Activision-Blizzard from Vivendi.
Maybe Apple or MS would cause they are so huge, but that might be doubtful.
There is imho good chance that Vivendi will suck money out of Activision-Blizzard and severe ties with it.
Then Activision-Blizzard will sell their assets in bits to many companies.
Nexon is worth about $7.9 billion so just under the asking price.
Microsoft has the funds but I would not like to see it happen.
Blizzard is a dedicated supporter of Mac gaming.
Also, Blizzard has little interest in consoles. They did put together a team to look into the possibility of porting Diablo 3 to consoles but thats it. And we all know that Microsoft would want all Blizzard properties on the Xbox.
As Cleffy said I too would like to Blizzard buy themselves and go independent. If they did they would soon become one of the most profitable video game publishers in the world.
Activision has exclusive deals with Microsoft already so why not go full first party.
Disney branding/merchandizing power combined with WoW could be a potent combination.
Yellow: Unfortunately, most likely it will not happen. If even major publishers don't have the funds to make a purchase, Blizzard management will certainly not have the funds either.
Red: Though ATVI closed well today, as the article mentions, their stock is in a 9 year low. People will argue it isn't Blizzard's fault due to their relationship (Blizzard enjoys independent management) with Activision and Vivendi; could be other factors dragging down the value of the stock.
However, Considering the fact that WOW, Blizzard's flagship game, is hemorrhaging subs, it will be interesting to see what happens with WOW and with Blizzard. Though WOW still generates millions, all indications are that the game is in decline and profits (and value) are not as high as before.
With all signs pointing to a loss in profit and in value, the sale of Blizzard will be complicated with an increased amount of risk. Not saying no one will want to buy it, but I think the signs are currently not favorable.
No way they would sell them unless the markets are in decline, and they forsee a big shift in the business.
"I am not in a server with Gankers...THEY ARE IN A SERVER WITH ME!!!"