Straight from the press release:
Vivendi to Contribute Vivendi Games Valued at $8.1 Billion, Plus $1.7 Billion in Cash in Exchange for Approximately 52% Stake in Activision Blizzard at Closing; Total Transaction Valued at $18.9 Billion
Activision Blizzard Will Commence Post-Closing Cash Tender Offer for Up to 146.5 Million of its Shares at $27.50 per Share, Representing 31% Premium for Activision Stockholders Based on 20-Trading Day Average
FAQ has some more information. This beats out EA as the top game publisher. Being a giant itself already that is Blizzard, I don’t think this really would impact them too much. The “Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.” brand would still be around as well. It remains unclear as to what the impact would be for the other three entities in Vivendi Games: Sierra, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile. But those are probably okay as well. They would be answering to Activition Publishing, so it’s just answering to another big corporation instead of VG.
More commentary from the horses’ mouths: BusinessWeek’s interview with VG and Activition’s CEOs.Oh and EA has this to say from an Associated Press article:
“We wish them luck,” said Jeff Brown, spokesman for Electronic Arts. “We look forward to the competition and believe that EA still has the strongest portfolio of perennial game franchises.”
This though, will certainly stir up the pot and motivate/accelerate more acquisitions and mergers. Though EA just bought Bioware/Pandemic, I doubt they will expand again so soon. But the Ubisoft deal is still out there, so we shall see.
UPDATE: More interviews and coverages:
