Ubisoft Shareholders Reportedly in Talks Over Possible Buyout - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 06 December 2024 / 2,578 Views
Shareholders of Ubisoft are reportedly considering a buyout of the video game publisher and developer, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke with Reuters.
The sources claim the largest shareholder and founders of Ubisoft, the Guillemot family, has been in talks with Tencent and other investors in recent weeks about funding a possible management-led buyout of Ubisoft.
The Guillemot family would want to keep control over Ubisoft as part of any deal, according to the sources.
Tencent is currently the second largest shareholder and hasn't decided if it wants to participate in a buyout and increase its stake, according to one person. Tencent wants a great say on the future board decisions. This includes cash flow distribution in return for financing the deal. This has not been agreed to by the Guillemot family.
The Guillemot family and Tencent are continuing discussions as Tencent wants to prevent a hostile takeover of Ubisoft by other investors, said one source. Tencent is reportedly remaining patient and waiting for the Guillemot family to agree to a deal.
"We remain committed to making decisions in the best interests of all of our stakeholders." a spokesman for Ubisoft told Reuters. "In this context, as we have already indicated, the Company is also reviewing all its strategic options."
Tencent declined to comment when asked by Reuters.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Ubisoft has more employees than Activision + Blizzard (around 18.5k vs 17k) but brings in 1/3 of Activ+Bliz revenue and is currently worth 1/35 of what Microsoft bought them for. Crazy! Also has more employees than Sony Interactive Entertainment (13k)
Whatever happens or whoever buys the company, we're going to see historical layoffs at Ubisoft. No way the company can justify such number of employees with what they produce...
I've got £5, take it or leave it.
With how much of a rut they've dug themselves into I do think it'll happen this time.
I bid $2!
But are you willing to take on $1.4 bn dollars of debt? and can you run the ship better than they do? so you might one day, pay that off?
I think it's safe to say that absolutely anyone on this site, or even the entirety of the internet, can run the ship better than they can. It's really not that hard to listen to what gamers want and deliver it to them without any kind of propaganda and messaging attached.
Fair enough... but if you were management, you would probably have alot of push back against doing just what you said.
Much less push back than not doing what I said lol Look where they are now after ignoring gamers demands, the next step for them is flat out hostile takeover or bankruptcy.
It's not just about what gamers want... It's also about how they treat gamers.
I.E. Calling all PC Gamers pirates is not going to place in you good stead with PC gamers.
Or them trying to push uDontPlay down everyone's necks.
Agreed, but still goes without saying, its really really not hard to give gamers what they want AND treat them fairly as human beings. It's basic humanity 101.
Yes, I’m tired of these companies saying the problem with video games is the gamers. Not sure how telling your own audience off is rewarding? While at the same time trickling your IPs. Ubisoft already lost a long time Clancy fanatic to Ready or Not and now that upcoming Chinese Splinter Cell game. I didn’t need some message, just some good gameplay with variety.
This reminds me of the dude who put $700k of his inheritance from grandma into intel just before it crashed
The reality is they've made a ton of stupid mistakes. Constant multiplayer ONLY with no story crap games that have no value or legs. Also dumb decisions- I know of at least 10 people who didn't buy any of the last 4 Assassin's Creed games because of the lack of co op STORY multiplayer, Everything doesn't have to be massive online multiplayer, but allowing a buddy to join you through some of these games (Vahalla, Origins) would have gotten greater legs. And NO, story content doesn't have to suffer. Look at games like BG3- plus they know how to implement co op with story games. Also, where the hell is a proper PVE mission based Rainbow Six? Beyond Good and Evil could have been their BOTW moment- can't deliver that. They simply aren't putting out the games that gamers want.
I mean, yeah of course, they are losing money but they are the investors, not the game makers. In reality they need to essentially re-evaluate what is going on, not just cry and bail, how will that help? The new buyers will be left with a company in the same state, so who'd actually buy it?
Shame really, because at least they try to make games. Meanwhile over in WB and Activision side of things...
Why would Tencent want to fund a deal that leaves the same management in place that has brought the company to this place? The only way I can see that making sense is if they pay a very low price for increasing their stake.
Or Guillemot family sells Ubi to Tencent, or... will bankrupt. Easy as that.
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