Electronic Arts to buy 20% stake in Ubisoft
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Interesting...
NEW YORK -- Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) plans to buy almost 20% of the shares of French videogame publisher Ubisoft Entertainment SA from a Dutch investment firm, in a sign of growing consolidation in the games business, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported.
Electronic Arts, the world's biggest games publisher, said it agreed to acquire the minority stake from Talpa Beheer BV after the firm approached it about a deal. People familiar with the matter said the Redwood City, Calif., company agreed to pay between $85 million and $100 million in the transaction, which needs the approval of U.S. regulators.
Warren Jenson, Electronic Arts' chief financial officer, wouldn't say whether the company wants to eventually acquire all of Ubisoft, though he said having a stake in the company could play a role in future transactions.
A spokesman at Talpa Beheer confirmed the agreement to sell its shares. Talpa, the Dutch holding company of billionaire television producer Jon De Mol, has been expanding its investments in television and telecommunications companies and sees the deal as a step toward future collaboration in television programming, the spokesman said, declining to elaborate. "We would like to do more business with Electronic Arts," the spokesman said.
Ubisoft officials couldn't be reached for comment.
The deal comes as Electronic Arts is seeking to enlarge its global presence with a string of deals. This year, the company dispatched one of its top game-development managers to build a local game studio in China, where the company has said it is looking for acquisition candidates. Electronic Arts Chief Executive Officer Larry Probst has said that the company intends to be a consolidator as smaller game publishers come under pressure from rising game-development costs.
Ubisoft is one of Europe's top publishers of videogames, with hit titles such as "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" and "Prince of Persia."
Wall Street Journal Staff Reporters Nick Wingfield and Robert A. Guth contributed to this report.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
NEW YORK -- Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) plans to buy almost 20% of the shares of French videogame publisher Ubisoft Entertainment SA from a Dutch investment firm, in a sign of growing consolidation in the games business, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported.
Electronic Arts, the world's biggest games publisher, said it agreed to acquire the minority stake from Talpa Beheer BV after the firm approached it about a deal. People familiar with the matter said the Redwood City, Calif., company agreed to pay between $85 million and $100 million in the transaction, which needs the approval of U.S. regulators.
Warren Jenson, Electronic Arts' chief financial officer, wouldn't say whether the company wants to eventually acquire all of Ubisoft, though he said having a stake in the company could play a role in future transactions.
A spokesman at Talpa Beheer confirmed the agreement to sell its shares. Talpa, the Dutch holding company of billionaire television producer Jon De Mol, has been expanding its investments in television and telecommunications companies and sees the deal as a step toward future collaboration in television programming, the spokesman said, declining to elaborate. "We would like to do more business with Electronic Arts," the spokesman said.
Ubisoft officials couldn't be reached for comment.
The deal comes as Electronic Arts is seeking to enlarge its global presence with a string of deals. This year, the company dispatched one of its top game-development managers to build a local game studio in China, where the company has said it is looking for acquisition candidates. Electronic Arts Chief Executive Officer Larry Probst has said that the company intends to be a consolidator as smaller game publishers come under pressure from rising game-development costs.
Ubisoft is one of Europe's top publishers of videogames, with hit titles such as "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" and "Prince of Persia."
Wall Street Journal Staff Reporters Nick Wingfield and Robert A. Guth contributed to this report.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Replies
Here's some more details:
http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/20/technology/erts_ubisoft.reut/index.htm
The deal comes as Electronic Arts is seeking to enlarge its global presence with a string of deals.
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The line frightens me.
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If EA now own 20% of Ubisoft that means that they are paying 20% of my wages. 20% of my wages is one day a week.
I think Ill stay home that day. ;o)
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Hahahaha
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The deal comes as Electronic Arts is seeking to enlarge its global presence with a string of deals.
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The line frightens me.
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Do you think the end of this so called "string of deals" is tied in a noose.
maybe now FINALY ubisoft will start making shitty games.
ITS ABOUT DAMN TIME.
Sad Day.
can be good, can be bad...
but I must say that im consern about this
-bmer
It's just a sign that they will eventually buy-out the company when they have enough liquid assets.
-R
The founders of Ubisoft now probably have an equal or similar amount of shares in the company.
Shareholders pretty much have a veto in the decisions for a companies future and appoint the people who are in daily control of the organization including third parties like accountants and financial specialists.
Time for Ubisoft's founders to dig in and buy back some of those public shares
Hopefully my stock will start going up so I can finally sell!
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I'm tempted to throw a poisoned needle back at you but it's not worth my time.
Seriously though, my friend Jukka works at DICE. EA is trying desperately to completely buy them out. While this CAN be a good thing, I'm sure it'll have some negative repurcussions.
I'm glad that the studio I work for hasn't been considered for a buyout yet, as I enjoy a small studio atmosphere. Unfortuneatly though, that's the owners goal - to sell the studio to a publisher. I wouldn't mind, if they allowed us to get stock in the company. This would allow all of us grunts to make out decently when we were bought out. Seems they are a bit more concerned with making their own lives cushy, though