The entertainment giant has held a 5% stake in the French studio since 2018.
New major movement approaching in the video game sector. According to information from Reuters, the Chinese media giant Tencent wants to take a larger stake in the French studio Ubisoft. Entered the capital in 2018, he holds a minority share of 5% of the company valued at 5.3 billion dollars. “It is unclear how much Ubisoft wants to buy Tencent. But the group hopes to become the majority shareholder by buying shares“, explains Reuters, quoting two experts of the anonymous file.
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The Chinese group would study a buyout of the 15% held by the Guillemot family. He would also like to buy their stakes from other minority investors. “Tencent could offer up to 100 euros ($101.84) per share to acquire this additional stake“, explains Reuters. When it entered the capital in 2018, Tencent had paid for its shares 66 euros per unit.
After the publication of the Reuters article, Ubisoft’s share price increased by 13% on the Paris Stock Exchange around 1 p.m., to reach 47.5 euros.
Interesting target
Since the takeovers of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft and that of Zynga by the studio Take-Two in January 2022, rumors about an upcoming takeover of Ubisoft have multiplied. The French company, which employs 17,000 developers in Europe and North America, is a target of choice due to its catalog, but also its technological expertise.
Between 2016 and 2018, Vincent Bolloré, present in the capital of Ubisoft, had already tried to get his hands on the shares of the Guillemot family. The latter had at the time refused. In March 2018, Vivendi finally withdrew from the capital, recovering 1.2 billion euros in capital gains. A departure which had provoked new shareholders, including Tencent.