Ubisoft doesn’t appear to be opposed to accepting takeover offers as it has in the past, and if there is a future takeover offer, it will review it for the benefit of all stakeholders.
The topic of industry consolidation was raised during the Q3 2022 investor conference call. On the subject, Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot assured that the company’s assets “have never been stronger at a time when asset values have never been higher” (thanks GI.biz).
When asked on an investor conference call whether being in such a good position meant it was a good time to sell, Guillemot said the question would be brought to the board, but stressed the company’s ability to remain independent.
“We always make decisions for the benefit of our stakeholders, who are our players, our employees and our shareholders,” Guillemot said. “So Ubisoft can remain independent. We have the talent, the industry and the financial scale, and a lot of Powerful IP portfolio.
“Having said that, if there is an offer to buy us, the board will of course review it for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
When asked why Ubisoft had not received an offer given the value of its IP, CFO Frederick Duguet said the company would not speculate why an offer had not been made, so he could not comment further.
“What we can say is, as we mentioned, we have high value assets. We have the scale to remain independent and create very meaningful value in the future because we have scale in terms of workforce and engineering, technology, IP, and a fully engaged community.”
While Ubisoft has not said whether it has received an offer for the company, it was at one point the target of a hostile takeover by Paris-based French media group Vivendi. It is the owner of Gameloft (acquired through a hostile takeover), which in 2008 acquired a majority stake in Activision Blizzard by merging its game publishing division with Activision for $18.8 billion. In 2013, Activision Blizzard bought 429 million shares from Vivendi for $5.83 billion, and by the close of trading in September, the shareholder’s stake had dropped from 63 percent to 11.8 percent.
Fast forward to 2015, and Vivendi turned his attention to Ubisoft, buying more and more Ubisoft shares over the past three years, reaching 27.3% at one point. This is something Ubisoft is totally against. Guillemot even called it “the struggle to preserve our independence.”
To stop the company from buying more shares, Ubisoft has enlisted help from Tencent, a large Chinese conglomerate, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Vivendi then agreed to sell its Ubisoft stake and not buy it for the next five years.
