Vivendi joins forces with Activision
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Vivendi is set to take control of Activision of the US through an alliance that would create the world’s biggest video games publisher and bring their hit titles under one corporate roof. The French group, whose activities span recorded music, pay-TV and mobile telephony, said Sunday it planned to merge its Vivendi Games unit with Activision, a Nasdaq-listed pioneer of computer games. It would then seek to raise its stake in Activision to a maximum of about 68%. The complicated proposal underlines how Vivendi’s once lossmaking games division has been transformed by the success of World of Warcraft, an online game from Vivendi’s US-based Blizzard Entertainment. Lex says the deal has powerful benefits for both sides although it is Vivendi – in contrast to 2003, when it ceded control of its US media assets to GE – that will ultimately be in the driving seat
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