For those unfamiliar with the company Vivendi, the company had at one point in time owned Activision Blizzard. However in 2013, Activision Blizzard managed to buy back their shares, thus ending Vivendi’s controlling stake in the company. However it looks like Vivendi might have set their sights on new targets.
According to a report from The Globe and Mail, it looks like Vivendi’s next target is none other than developer and publisher Ubisoft, the company behind popular titles like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Watch Dogs, just to name a few. However it seems that Ubisoft does not appear to be too eager to be taken over by the company and reportedly trying to fight back by seeking investors for the company.
The company’s CEO Yves Guillemot was quoted as saying, “We want to increase the number of Canadian shareholders in Ubisoft to have better control over the capital. We feel it’s a good defence.” Interestingly it seems that Vivendi has their eyes set on another gaming company in the form of Gameloft.
The company confirmed to Deadline that they have launched a hostile takeover bid against Gameloft, whose CEO is coincidentally enough Michel Guillemot, the brother of Ubisoft’s CEO and is also one of Ubisoft’s co-founders. Apparently Vivendi’s interest in Gameloft is a ploy to force the Guillemot family to discuss the taking over of Ubisoft, according to European investment bank Bryan, Garnier & Co.
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