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Activision Blizzard owner considering cash grab - rumour

Unable to sell off Activision Blizzard, majority owner Vivendi is said to be considering a raid on the twin publisher's capital.

According to a Financial Times report [paywall], Vivendi is looking at ways to make some ready money from Activision Blizzard after a failed attempt to sell off its 61% majority stake.

Citing anonymous sources, the publication claims Vivendi and Activision Blizzard have discussed having the latter company extend a tender offer partially covering Vivendi's stake, funded by its available cash or a debt offering.

An agreement is in Activision Blizzard's best interests because Vivendi will gain the power to forcibly extract cash dividends from its property as of Tuesday, apparently; in the past, Vivendi has had to gather support from Activision Blizzard's directors for any cash grab which would bring the company to a net debt of over $400 million.

Vivendi is an international company headquartered in France which has finger in a wide variety of pies, including the oil industry. It always seems to be selling off Activision, but nobody seems to be in a position to buy one of the largest publishers in the world.

Vivendi pushed a new board member on Activision Blizzard last year, but still doesn't seem happy with the US company's performance.

Thanks, Reuters.

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Brenna Hillier avatar

Brenna Hillier

Contributor

Based in Australia and having come from a lengthy career in the Aussie games media, Brenna worked as VG247's remote Deputy Editor for several years, covering news and events from the other side of the planet to the rest of the team. After leaving VG247, Brenna retired from games media and crossed over to development, working as a writer on several video games.

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